Charles Hermans
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Charles Hermans (7 August 1839 – 7 December 1924) was a Belgian
painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
of genre scenes, portraits, landscapes and some still lifes.Charles Hermans
at the
Netherlands Institute for Art History The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: ), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center in the world. The center specializes in document ...
Through a number of his monumental genre paintings he played an important role in the recognition of
Realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *American Realism *Classical Realism *Liter ...
in Belgian art.Denis Laoureux (ed.), ''En nature La Société libre des Beaux-Arts D’Artan à Whistler'', Musée Félicien Rops, 2013, p. 14


Life

Hermans was born 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 ...
in a well-off bourgeois family. He showed an interest in art from an early age. In his native city Hermans received some artistic guidance from the painter
Louis Gallait Louis Gallait (9 or 10 May 1810 – 20 November 1887) was a Walloons, Belgian painter. He lay at the basis of a revival of history painting in Belgium. He earned his reputation especially with the large painting of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, ...
. He then studied at the Saint Luc workshop in Brussels, a liberal workshop which offered an alternative to traditional academic education. Between 1858 and 1861 he stayed in Paris where he studied at the workshop of the Swiss painter
Charles Gleyre Marc Gabriel Charles Gleyre (2 May 1806 – 5 May 1874), was a Swiss artist who was a resident in France from an early age. He took over the studio of Paul Delaroche in 1843 and taught a number of younger artists who became prominent, including He ...
at the
École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in nor ...
.Lucien Solvay, ''Charles Hermans''
in: Biographie Nationale de Belgique, p. 672-675
Gleyre was a prominent painter who had taken over the studio of
Paul Delaroche Hippolyte-Paul Delaroche (; Paris, 17 July 1797 – Paris, 4 November 1856) was a French painter who achieved his greater successes painting historical scenes. He became famous in Europe for his melodramatic depictions that often portrayed subje ...
in 1843 and taught a number of younger artists who became prominent, including
Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 â€“ 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...
,
Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French people, French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, fe ...
,
Alfred Sisley Alfred Sisley (; ; 30 October 1839 – 29 January 1899) was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedic ...
, and
James Abbott McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral a ...
. From 1862 to 1867, Hermans stayed in Italy. In Rome he became fascinated with the life of the monks, which became a favorite subject of many paintings between 1866 and 1869. The theme of Catholic clergy was popular at the time as evidenced by the vogue of cardinal paintings made by artists such as the Belgian
Georges Croegaert Georges Croegaert (7 October 1848 – 1923) was a Belgian Academic art, academic painter who spent most of his career in Paris. He is known for his genre paintings of scenes from elegant society and portraits of women. He also had a reputation f ...
.Joost De Geest, ''500 chefs-d'oeuvre de l'art belge'', Lannoo Uitgeverij, 2006, pp. 215 He had an early success with his paintings of clerics. He later made several trips especially in the Mediterranean region and, in particular, Spain.A. Adriaens-Pannier et al., ''150 ans d’art belge : dans les collections des Musées royaux des beaux-arts de Belgique'', 26 September 1980 – 4 January 1981, Brussels, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, 1980, p. 105 Hermans joined the
Société Libre des Beaux-Arts The Société Libre des Beaux-Arts ("Free Society of Fine Arts") was an organization formed in 1868 by Belgian artists to react against academicism and to advance Realist painting and artistic freedom. Based in Brussels, the society was active un ...
, founded in Brussels on 1 March 1868, which brought together several famous Belgian naturalist artists such as
Charles de Groux Charles de Groux () or Charles Degroux (25 August 1825 – 30 March 1870)Charles de Groux
at the Netherlands Instit ...
,
Alfred Verwee Alfred Jacques Verwee (23 April 1838, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode – 15 September 1895, Schaerbeek) was a Belgian painter known for his depictions of animals, landscapes and seascapes. Life His father was the painter Louis-Pierre Verwee and his bro ...
,
Constantin Meunier Constantin Meunier (; 12 April 1831 – 4 April 1905) was a Belgian Painting, painter and sculpture, sculptor. He made an important contribution to the development of modern art by elevating the image of the industrial worker, docker and mi ...
, Louis Dubois,
Félicien Rops Félicien Victor Joseph Rops (; 7 July 1833 – 23 August 1898) was a Belgian artist associated with Symbolism (arts), Symbolism, Decadence, and the Parisian , a member of the Les XX group. He was a painter, illustrator, caricaturist and a proli ...
,
Constantin Meunier Constantin Meunier (; 12 April 1831 – 4 April 1905) was a Belgian Painting, painter and sculpture, sculptor. He made an important contribution to the development of modern art by elevating the image of the industrial worker, docker and mi ...
,
Louis Artan de Saint-Martin Louis Victor Antonio Artan de Saint-Martin (20 April 1837 – 23 May 1890)Profile @ the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie. was a Dutch-Belgian painter and etcher who specialized in seascapes. Biography He was born into a noble famil ...
and
Théodore Baron Théodore Baron (19 August 1840 - 4 September 1899) was a Belgian landscape painter in the Realism (arts), Realistic style. Biography He was initially trained in the Academicism, Academic style; first by Hippolyte de la Charlerie in Brussels, ...
. The members admired the work of the French Realist painter
Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( ; ; ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and the ...
and wished to confront the prevailing Academism in contemporary Belgian art. The Realist movement in Belgium gradually gained ground as evidenced by the fact that the Realist artists Constantin Meunier and Louis Artan de Saint-Martin received prizes at the
Brussels Salon The Brussels Salon (; ) was a periodic exhibition of works by living artists that was held in Brussels between 1811 and 1914. It was primarily aimed at painters, but sculptors, Drawing, draughtsmen, Engraving, engravers and architects were also ...
of 1869. The battle with the Belgian art establishment appeared to have been won when in 1875 Hermans' ''At dawn'' was accepted at the Brussels Salon without opposition. Hermans participated in major international exhibitions such as the art section of the World Fair held in Paris in 1878 where he showed ''At dawn'' to general acclaim. He earned an international reputation thanks to this success. His paintings were acquired by museums, both in Belgium and abroad. Despite this early success Hermans was not able to realise the expectations. He had hoped to reiterate the reception of ''At dawn'' by creating the large, ambitious work ''The masked ball'', which was exhibited at the
Paris Salon The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...
of 1880. The impact of the work was less than that of his earlier work. Still many reproductions of it were made and the original was acquired by the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...
in 1882.Charles Hermans, ''The masked ball''
at Sotheby's
Hermans died in
Menton Menton (; in classical norm or in Mistralian norm, , ; ; or depending on the orthography) is a Commune in France, commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italia ...
on 7 December 1924.


Work

Hermans was a prolific artist who practised many genres throughout his career: history painting, genre art, portraits and landscape painting. He initially painted genre scenes of monks. He subsequently tried to elevate genre painting by treating biblical subjects as genre art. He painted a ''Job visited by his friends'' in which he depicted Job as an ordinary poor man in a Realist style. He then turned to genre scenes such as the ''Honeymoon'' showing a fashionable young couple clearly in love. He later turned to subjects with a social connotation such as the ''Sunday visit to the children's clinic at St. Peter's Hospital''. In this composition he addressed human tragedy and suffering humanity in a moving and honest manner. The sentimentality of the subject assured the success of this composition. The crowning achievement of his genre art was the work of 1875 ''At dawn''. It is a realistic and moralizing painting representing an encounter of a group of inebriated revellers leaving a restaurant with prostitutes on their arms in the early hours and a group of poor labourers on their way to work. The work was interpreted as a work of social criticism by contrasting the honest, simple workers with the depraved bourgeoisie. Hermans himself denied that his intention was to engage in social criticism and argued that he chose the subject because of its artistic possibilities.Maurice Sulzberger, ''Guide Illustré de Bruxelles, Tome II, Les musées'', Touring Club de Belgique, 1917, p. 37-38 Hermans followed up this masterwork with other smaller genre pieces until he attempted another genre scene on a large scale, ''The masked ball''. This work depicts one of the all-night society masked balls of the late 19th century, which were also attended by young women of the ''
demi-monde is a French 19th-century term referring to women on the fringes of respectable society, and specifically to courtesans supported by wealthy lovers. The term is French for "half-world", and derives from an 1855 play called , by Alexandre Dumas ...
''. The composition shows a large room filled with groups of partygoers some of whom are in the shadows looking from a balcony in the background while others are active on the crowded dance floor in the front. Elegantly dressed men are joined by many women on the dance floor some in close embrace or animated conversation. Many of the men depicted were prominent personalities of the time. Hermans was able to convey with a remarkable skill the jostling and carnival madness of a night at the theater. Not achieving the expected success with this work, Hermans turned to smaller scale works often depicting charming women, which were based on the studies he had made for the ''Masked ball''. These works are in the same vein as the society portraits of Alfred Stevens. He also painted at the sea from which he returned with fantasies of nude women bathing and Bacchantes. A new high point of this period is the composition ''Circe as temptress'', which shows a seductive woman in a modern interior with a man passed out at a table with an overturned wine glass. This was a return to the veiled social criticism of his earlier work. In his later years he painted large decorative works and landscapes with many figures. During World War I he treated some wartime subjects such as ''The martyrs'' and the ''Execution of Edith Cavell by the Germans''. Hermans' large-format Realist works were influential on the next generation of Belgian artists such as
Eugène Laermans Eugène Jules Joseph Baron Laermans (22 October 1864 – 22 February 1940) was a Belgian painter. Life He was born in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean. At the age of eleven, he contracted meningitis, which left him deaf and nearly mute (although some sour ...
and Léon Frédéric.


Gallery

File:Charles Hermans - The connoisseur.jpg, ''The connoisseur'' File:Charles Hermans - The flower seller.jpeg, ''The flower seller'' File:Charles Hermans - Portrait of a lady.jpg, ''Portrait of a lady'' File:Charles Hermans - The onion sellers.jpeg, ''The onion sellers'' File:Charles Hermans - A secret admirer.jpg, ''A secret admirer'' File:Charles Hermans - Two dancers.jpg, ''Two dancers'' File:Charles Hermans - Sketch for the Masked Ball.jpg, ''Sketch for the Masked Ball''


Notes


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hermans, Charles 1839 births 1924 deaths Artists from Brussels Belgian portrait painters Belgian genre painters Belgian landscape painters 19th-century Belgian painters Belgian male painters 19th-century Belgian male artists 20th-century Belgian painters École des Beaux-Arts alumni 20th-century Belgian male artists