Groupe Nervia
Encyclopedia
Founded in 1928 at the instigation of the insurance broker Léon Eeckman and of the painters Anto-Carte and Louis Buisseret, the Groupe Nervia was a Belgian artistic circle, the purpose of which was to foster Walloon
art, obscured by the Flemish
Expressionism
of the Laethem-Saint-Martin School, by supporting young talented artists of Hainaut. It included, in addition to Anto-Carte, eight other painters: Louis Buisseret, Frans Depooter
, Léon Devos, Léon Navez, Pierre Paulus
, Rodolphe Strebelle, Taf Wallet and Jean Winance.
Nervia’s art claims a Latin essence and is more realistic, lyric and intimist than their northern neighbors’. In addition to their obvious skills, Nervia’s artists refused avant-garde
at all costs, deeply studied other artists, and expressed a sort of neo-humanism through themes taken from everyday and family life, treated with harmony and idealism
.
Twenty exhibitions were organized between 1928 and 1938, together with other guest artists (Andrée Bosquet
, Gustave Camus, Alphonse Darville, Élisabeth Ivanovsky, Geo Verbanck, Fernand Wéry and Ernest Wynants). Nervia stood out at the Salon of Ghent
in 1933 and 1938 and successfully participated in the first Congrès Culturel Wallon held in Charleroi
. Seven other exhibitions were organized between 1946 and 1978, including an itinerant exhibition on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Group’s creation.
Nervia was also honored by a retrospective in the Art Museum of Mons
in 2002.
Walloons
Walloons are a French-speaking people who live in Belgium, principally in Wallonia. Walloons are a distinctive community within Belgium, important historical and anthropological criteria bind Walloons to the French people. More generally, the term also refers to the inhabitants of the Walloon...
art, obscured by the Flemish
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
Expressionism
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
of the Laethem-Saint-Martin School, by supporting young talented artists of Hainaut. It included, in addition to Anto-Carte, eight other painters: Louis Buisseret, Frans Depooter
Frans Depooter
Frans Depooter, born in Mons, Belgium, in 1898, was a Belgian painter. He died in 1987 in Maffe at age 89....
, Léon Devos, Léon Navez, Pierre Paulus
Pierre Paulus
Baron Pierre Paulus de Châtelet was a Walloon expressionist painter, most known as the designer of "the bold rooster" adopted on 3 July 1913 by the Walloon Assembly for the flag of Wallonia....
, Rodolphe Strebelle, Taf Wallet and Jean Winance.
Nervia’s art claims a Latin essence and is more realistic, lyric and intimist than their northern neighbors’. In addition to their obvious skills, Nervia’s artists refused avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
at all costs, deeply studied other artists, and expressed a sort of neo-humanism through themes taken from everyday and family life, treated with harmony and idealism
Idealism
In philosophy, idealism is the family of views which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial. Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing...
.
Twenty exhibitions were organized between 1928 and 1938, together with other guest artists (Andrée Bosquet
Andrée Bosquet
Andrée Bosquet, born in Tournai in 1900 was a Belgian painter. She died in La Louvière in 1980. She was Frans Depooter’s wife.Coming from cultured society, she took painting courses with M. Putsage , Anto Carte, and E.Motte, but she was primarily self-taught. She exhibited regularly from 1922...
, Gustave Camus, Alphonse Darville, Élisabeth Ivanovsky, Geo Verbanck, Fernand Wéry and Ernest Wynants). Nervia stood out at the Salon of Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
in 1933 and 1938 and successfully participated in the first Congrès Culturel Wallon held in Charleroi
Charleroi
Charleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. , the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of and had a total population of 522,522 as of 1 January 2008, ranking it as...
. Seven other exhibitions were organized between 1946 and 1978, including an itinerant exhibition on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Group’s creation.
Nervia was also honored by a retrospective in the Art Museum of Mons
Mons
Mons is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, of which it is the capital. The Mons municipality includes the old communes of Cuesmes, Flénu, Ghlin, Hyon, Nimy, Obourg, Baudour , Jemappes, Ciply, Harmignies, Harveng, Havré, Maisières, Mesvin, Nouvelles,...
in 2002.