GUSTAAF C. DE BRUYNE

(Mechelen 1914 - 1981 Lille)

Maternity

Oil on canvas

63 ½ x 25 1/6 inches

Signed and dated bottom right Gustaaf C. De Bruyne//31

Provenance:

Private collection, Belgium

Diagnosed with diabetes at the age of sixteen, De Bruyne spent almost his entire life plagued by physical pain and recurrent nightmares due to frequent insulin injections. The disease forced him to live an extremely regulated life in terms of his diet and physical activity, but even with taking great care he could not prevent his gradual loss of eyesight. Despite his debilitating diabetes, which his wife described as a “darkness being chained to his person,” De Bruyne believed it to be his responsibility as an artist to improve humanity through his work

De Bruyne proved to be a naturally talented draftsman from a young age, beginning his artistic training at the Academy in his hometown of Mechelen at 14 years old. In 1932 he moved to Antwerp and enrolled in the National Higher Institute of Fine Arts at the advice of his mentor, the artist Gustave Van de Woestijne. The decision led him to meet his future wife, the daughter of the famed painter Kees Van Dongen and a talented artist in her own right, Lucy Van Dongen. It also as set him on the path to become a professor at the Institute in 1946, where teaching proved to be a great talent and passion. 

De Bruyne cared deeply for his students, not only regarding their artistic development, but also their livelihood. Upon his appointment at the National Higher Institute he worked with the board of directors to organize a stipend dedicated to purchasing art supplies for his students who were unable to afford them. De Bruyne was not only revered as a remarkable artist and teacher, he was also beloved for his emotional dedication to his relationships. His friends and colleagues reflected on him as a philosopher of humanity, not only in an academic sense, but also as someone who considered the wellbeing of others. He regularly exhibited alongside his mentees and created opportunities for young artists to show their work publicly. De Bruyne’s decline and death proved difficult for those close to him, as can be found in the sentimental interviews and anecdotes recounted by his friends and students in “Liber Amicorum Gustaaf C. De Bruyne,” published in 1984. 

For a man who valued a well-rounded intellectual life and practiced a technically perfect painting technique, Gustaaf C. De Bruyne approached art purely as an emotional experience. Undoubtedly, he employed melancholic and frightful imagery in his art as a means of grappling with his own sickness, as well as the pervasive cultural pessimism that plagued society during and after World War II.

Maternity depicts a mother and child sitting in an alcove with apples and a plate of eggs by her feet. The oval shape echoes through the composition from the womb-like posture of the child to the alcove they are both sitting in, to the eggs on the ground. The confined composition makes the viewer uneasy, perhaps a nod to Gustaaf’s personal struggle with his wife to have a child.