Auguste Charles Louis Oleffe (17 April 1867,

Saint-Josse-ten-Noode Saint-Josse-ten-Noode ( French, ) or Sint-Joost-ten-Node ( Dutch, ), often simply called Saint-Josse in French or Sint-Joost in Dutch, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part o ...

– 14 November 1931,

Auderghem Auderghem ( French, ; former Dutch spelling) or Oudergem ( Dutch, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-eastern part of the region, along the Woluwe valley and at the entrance to the ...

) was a Belgian

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painter. He is also associated with a type of

Fauvism Fauvism ( ) is a style of painting and an art movement that emerged in France at the beginning of the 20th century. It was the style of (, ''the wild beasts''), a group of modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong col ...

that originated in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Biography

He studied at the and the . Upon completing his studies, he worked as a

lithographer Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German ...

and

draftsman A drafter (also draughtsman / draughtswoman in British and Commonwealth English, draftsman / draftswoman, drafting technician, or CAD technician in American and Canadian English) is an engineering technician who makes detailed technical drawi ...

. He visited Paris in 1890, to improve his skills. He was married in 1891. From 1895 to 1902, he and his wife spent time with the

still-life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or human-made (drinking glasses, books, ...

painter, Louis Thevenet, on the coast near Nieuwpoort, where he painted

seascape A seascape is a photograph, painting, or other work of art which depicts the sea, in other words an example of marine art. The word originated as a formation from landscape, which was first used for images of land in art. By a similar de ...

s and the activities of the fishermen. In 1898, together with Thevenet, he created an artistic society known as '. Its earliest members included

Charles Dehoy Charles Jean Dehoy (1872–1940) was a Belgian painter, watercolorist and etcher; associated with a group known as the "". He was best known for his landscapes. Biography He was the eldest child of Georges Dehoy (1850–1933), an upholsterer. A ...

, Willem Paerels and

Ferdinand Schirren Ferdinand Schirren (8 November 1872, Antwerp - 19 February 1944, Brussels) was a Belgian painter, watercolorist and sculptor of Jewish ancestry. Biography He was the sixth child and first son born to Josephe Schirren, a copper worker, and his wif ...

. Eventually, it had fifty members, but was disbanded in 1907. In 1906, he settled in Auderghem; in a house he had acquired through an inheritance. There he painted portraits of his family members and friends from the art world, many of which were purchased by museums throughout Belgium. After making friends with in 1912, they established a circle of artists organized around his old school, L'Effort. The art critic, , would later refer to the group as the "", to distinguish them from the original "Parisian Fauvists", whose works employed brighter color contrasts. Many Belgian artists were influenced by their style, including Anne-Pierre de Kat, Jean Brusselmans, and

Rik Wouters Hendrik Emil (Rik) Wouters (21 August 1882 – 11 July 1916) was a Belgian painter, sculptor and draughtsman. Wouters produced 200 paintings, drawings and sculptures in his 34 years before his illness-caused death. He died partway through th ...

, although he died before having a chance to develop it fully.

Sources

* Pierre Loy, ''Rétrospective Auguste Oleffe : 1867-1931'', exhibition catalog, Centre culturel d'Auderghem, 1972 * Serge Goyens de Heusch, ''L’impressionnisme et le fauvisme en Belgique'', Fonds Mercator/Albin Michel, 1988

External links

A brief history of his home
on what is now the ' in Auderghem @ the Internet Archive
More works by Oleffe
@ ArtNet {{DEFAULTSORT:Oleffe, Auguste 1867 births 1931 deaths Belgian painters Belgian Impressionist painters People from Saint-Josse-ten-Noode