de Smet Gustave
Gustave De Smet was a Belgian artist who was born in Ghent in 1877 and who died in Deurle in 1943. He was a painter. Together with his brother Léon De Smet, he helped his father paint decorative panels. Education at the Academy in Ghent under Van Biesbroeck and Delvin (1888-1895). Settled in Sint-Martens-Latem around 1908 and worked there in a post-impressionist style, but soon evolved into expressionism. Stayed in the Netherlands during the First World War and became acquainted with German Expressionism. Returned to the banks of the Leie in 1922 and formed the second group of Latem with Permeke and F. Van Den Berghe. The expressionist aesthetic of this group was championed by the Sélection movement, founded by P. G. Van Hecke and A. De Ridder. His innate sense of color and composition, the effortless representation of the essential features of a face, a landscape or a village scene, make him a leading figure in Latem's second group. Gustave De Smet Museum in Deurle. Work in the Museums in Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels, Ghent, Ostend. Mentioned in BAS I and Two centuries of signatures of Belgian artists. (piron)