De Groote Georgette

Georgette De Groote-Tanghe was a Belgian artist, born in Nieuwpoort in 1929 and died in Bruges in 2007. She was a painter, sculptor, draughtswoman, watercolorist and enamellist. In her father’s forge she learned to work with hammer, fire and iron. She studied at the Academy in Bruges under L. De Jaegher, at the Academy in Sint-Joost-ten-Node, and at Ter Kameren in Brussels, where she was a pupil of L. Navez, F. Jacques and L. Crommelynck. She became a teacher of fine arts at the Institute of the Holy Family in Bruges. As a sculptor she mainly practiced metal sculpture, but also created copper repoussé and enamel work. Her drawings often depict threatening monsters, half human, half animal. From the press: “Her drawings are dreams, primal experiences of the soul, ancient legends from a recently awakened past. They grew out of the same world as Bosch, Goya, Ensor and Van Den Berghe. She reveals the reality of dreams and nightmares. Her traumas of fear, inexplicability and uncertainty she discloses with exceptional precision. Her surreal world is our unconscious reality.” She was a member of Nieuwe Vormen in Brussels and of the Centre International de l’Actualité Fantastique et Magique (CIAFMA). In 1963, her work was purchased by the State. She is listed in the Lexicon of West Flemish Visual Artists VI, BAS II and Two Centuries of Signatures of Belgian Artists. (Piron)