opc_loader

Menu

Belgische kunstenaar Roger Wittevrongel

Wittevrongel Roger

Roger Wittevrongel is a Belgian artist, born in Blankenese in 1933. He is a painter, draftsman, watercolorist and graphic artist. He is known as a representative of hyperrealism. Wittevrongel was educated in Ghent, where he combined his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (1953-1956) with a teacher training in plastic arts at the State School (1954-1956) under the direction of Octave Landuyt. He received mentions at the Prize Jeune Peinture Belge in 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1963. Initially, he was influenced by O. Landuyt and surrealism. His first canvases depict skeletons, monstrous figures, wings and bird heads. He evolved towards an almost photographically precise representation of reality, and eventually became one of the main representatives of hyperrealism in Belgium. Initially inspired by the most everyday subjects, such as car wrecks and discarded materials, women quickly became his main source of inspiration, alongside themes such as street scenes, weathered gates and walls. His works exude sensuality and serenity. From the press: "R.W. has given realism a face of its own, both in his earlier view of walls and buildings, on doors and floors and in his captivating ode to the female body, which he often interprets fragmented, but with enormous tenderness and translates according to his own rhythm, in a color palette that looks ethereal and yet extremely sensuous", (1997) and "The eroticism is suggested, there is no emotional distortion or transfiguration. The model is young, seductive and timeless. It is a utopia of beauty, obsessively repeated and modeled in the shapes of a purist." (K.J. Geirlandt, 1984). From 1956 to 1971 he was a teacher of plastic education at the State Secondary School in Ghent (1956-1971), from 1971 to 1997 he was a teacher of etching, drawing and lithography at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent and has been an honorary teacher at the same Academy since 1997. His work can be found in various museums, including those in Ghent, Ostend, Brussels and Liège. He is listed in the Lexicon of West Flemish visual artists II, BAS II and Two centuries of signatures of Belgian artists. (Piron)