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Lot Essay
Georges Lemmen was far more influenced by his architect father than by the academic training he had received at the drawing school in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode and from the beginning of his artistic career he took a firm stance in favour of the avant-garde.
Lemmen was open to the innovations of his day and, since 1888 when he became involved with Les Vingts and later on La Libre Esthetique (see also lots 195 and 233), he began to mix in different artistic circles and take an active interest in Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Being more interested in form and colour than the effects of light, the influence of Neo Impressionism (to which he converted in 1890) and especially the technique of Seurat, changed his intially sombre palette into a strong and carefully selected range of pigments. The artist abandoned this painstaking method four years later when he turned to the applied arts, notably the design and decoration of book-covers, posters, fabrics and wallpapers. Lemmen was not an exception, most of his Belgian contemporary artists followed that route. However in 1900 he picked up painting again and Petit Pierre may well be one of the first works that the artist executed since then.
Lemmen's oeuvre is characterised by still lives and by intimate interior portraits (in which he was largely influenced by the Nabis). Petit Pierre is a strong example of his liberated method for the portrait genre, and Lemmen captures the likeness and air of his eldest son Pierre, born in 1895, giving it the interior quality of an outdoor scene. The posture of Pierre reveals a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere; the young boy clearly enjoyed posing for his father.
Lemmen painted another portrait of Pierre seated, wearing the same hat (now in a private collection); and executed a series of lithographs, reminiscent of the mother and child paintings by Mary Cassatt, in 1900 of the boy at play with his mother besides him.
The sunflowers on the table with the plain earthenware jug do full justice to the century old tradition of Flemish still life painting.
Lemmen was open to the innovations of his day and, since 1888 when he became involved with Les Vingts and later on La Libre Esthetique (see also lots 195 and 233), he began to mix in different artistic circles and take an active interest in Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Being more interested in form and colour than the effects of light, the influence of Neo Impressionism (to which he converted in 1890) and especially the technique of Seurat, changed his intially sombre palette into a strong and carefully selected range of pigments. The artist abandoned this painstaking method four years later when he turned to the applied arts, notably the design and decoration of book-covers, posters, fabrics and wallpapers. Lemmen was not an exception, most of his Belgian contemporary artists followed that route. However in 1900 he picked up painting again and Petit Pierre may well be one of the first works that the artist executed since then.
Lemmen's oeuvre is characterised by still lives and by intimate interior portraits (in which he was largely influenced by the Nabis). Petit Pierre is a strong example of his liberated method for the portrait genre, and Lemmen captures the likeness and air of his eldest son Pierre, born in 1895, giving it the interior quality of an outdoor scene. The posture of Pierre reveals a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere; the young boy clearly enjoyed posing for his father.
Lemmen painted another portrait of Pierre seated, wearing the same hat (now in a private collection); and executed a series of lithographs, reminiscent of the mother and child paintings by Mary Cassatt, in 1900 of the boy at play with his mother besides him.
The sunflowers on the table with the plain earthenware jug do full justice to the century old tradition of Flemish still life painting.