Minne George

George Minne was a Belgian artist, born in Ghent in 1866 and died in Sint-Martens-Latem in 1941. He was a sculptor, draftsman, and illustrator. He first studied architecture at the Academy of Ghent (1882-1884) before focusing on drawing and sculpture. In 1886, he befriended Maurice Maeterlinck, who introduced him to the circles of literary symbolists. In 1891, he visited Rodin in Paris. Doubting his creative ability, he decided to start anew and, at the age of thirty, he took a sculpture course at the Academy of Brussels, under the guidance of Charles Van Der Stappen (1895-1896).
From 1897, his attention turned to the theme of the "Kneeling Adolescent". In 1898, he joined the first group of Sint-Martens-Latem. From this period, his first works on the theme of the mother and child date. The ascetic figures, constructed with angular, severe lines, fit perfectly into the pessimistic atmosphere of the fin de siècle. During this period, he also created several religiously inspired drawings with swirling movements. His entire body of work reflects a continuous search for a liberating spirituality.
During the First World War, he stayed in England. He was friends with Maurice Maeterlinck and illustrated many of his works, including "Serres chaudes" (1888) and "Soeur Béatrice" (1900). He also illustrated "Villages illusoires" by Emile Verhaeren (1900). In 1890, he exhibited with Les XX and became a member of this group in 1891. He was a drawing teacher at the Academy of Ghent (1912-1914 and 1918-1919). He is considered a leading figure of the first group of artists in Sint-Martens-Latem, later known as the symbolists. In 1929, the Giroux Gallery organized a major retrospective of his work. The Brussels Museum dedicates a room to his work. He is mentioned in BAS I and "Two Centuries of Signatures of Belgian Artists" (Piron).