Delmotte Marcel

Marcel Delmotte was a Belgian artist, born in Charleroi in 1901 and died in Mont-sur-Marchienne in 1984. He was a painter and draftsman. Despite the fact that he was largely self-taught, he attended classes as a free student in the studio of L. Van Den Houten at the Université du Travail in Charleroi during the First World War. Initially he was inspired by the Bible and mythology and painted visionary scenes that resembled lyrical surrealism. Later he placed nudes and figures in front of abstracted, organically structured, sometimes unearthly or inhospitable backgrounds. He was fascinated by themes such as the beauty of women, man versus transience, and the fate of humanity. His work exudes dream, fantasy and mystery. From the press: “This is the oeuvre of a painter who anticipated surrealism.” (S. Rey) and “We are talking about a complete artist who managed to reconcile the achievements and innovations of his time with the spirit of the Florentine Renaissance (...) He had exceptional gifts and unbridled inspiration and knew how to his strong personality left his mark on twentieth-century painting.” Marcel Delmotte won the first Richard Dupierreux Prize for Painting and the Silver Medal of Belgian Art in 1960. The Gold Medal of the Conseil Européen d'Art Esthétique in 1964. He held several individual exhibitions in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan and the United States. We find his work in the Museums in Munich, Charleroi and Ostend. Bibliography: Le Monde imaginaire de Marcel Delmotte (W. George, publisher Mac Fourny, Paris, 1969), Les dessins de Delmotte (C. Dendelot and Ph. Dufrasne, publisher Mécenart, Brussels, 1992). M.D. is listed in Artists and galleries, in the fourth (2000) and fifth (2004) editions, in BAS I, II and Two centuries of signatures of Belgian artists. (Piron)