25. Gustave Van de Woestyne
Gustave Van De Woestyne occupies a distinct place in modernism. He once said: "I have always felt like a primitive". He cherished the simplicity of rural Sint-Martens-Latem, where he lived from 1900 to 1909. He was also a member of the first Latem school there. What's more, Van de Woestyne fell under the spell of the Flemish Primitives, which he learned about in 1902, during a visit to the exhibition 'Les Primitifs flamands' in Bruges. Artists such as Van Eyck and Memling introduced him to late medieval painting and spirituality, and formally he found inspiration in Cubism and Expressionism. Forms are greatly simplified, sometimes even distorted, in his search for spirituality and the essence of things.
In the 1920s and 1930s, influenced by New Objectivity, he painted an important series of still lifes, including for the collector David van Buuren. He did not seek a narrative or symbolism, but the essence of things: it was not an apple he saw, but the apple, not some vase, but the vase. He portrayed objects with clear contours, distinct colours, without details, without any anecdotalism, devoid of time. The two paintings Still Life with Globe and Still Life with Groundsel are exemplary.
A jug with a ragged lip is the main visual element in each case. In one work it is accompanied by a basket of flowers and a globe. The table, the chair and the black background set the scene. But the image is static: the jug is smooth, the bouquet vibrates, but nothing else happens: the globe is a barren sphere. In the other work the jug stands next to a smaller jug and a flowerpot. Although nothing is moving, it is still a restless picture. The fluted jug, smaller striped jug and flowerpot seem to be holding their own on an undulating sea of lines and folds.