Henry Luyten
Encyclopedia
Henry Luyten was a Dutch
-born Belgian
painter.
from 1878. In 1883 he attended classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris with Alexander Cabanet. After 10 months he returned to Antwerp. In 1884 Henry became a member of the art circle "Als ik kan" ("If I can") and participated in a number of expositions. His main friends in the art circle were Henry van de Velde, Jan-Willem Rosier and Leon Brunin. From 1886 (Gold Medal from the Rijksmuseum
in Amsterdam) he became friends with Dutch artists Matthijs Maris
, Jacob Maris
, Hendrik-Willem Mesdag, Alma Tadema and the Italian painter Giovanni Segantini
. Henry resided during 1886 and 1887 in the Borinage
, a coalmining area in the south of Belgium where the working and living conditions of the miners were appaling. Here he witnessed the great strike and its bloody suppression. In response, he painted the triptych "The Strike" on which he worked until 1893. The painting (international title: "Struggle for Life") measures 3 to 5 meters. The painting on the right-hand panel (3 by 2 ½ meters) is called "After the uprising" and the left-hand panel is called "Misery".
On 17 April 1890 Henry married Joanna Francisca Brees (1854-1916). A son named Henry Francis was born on 28 November 1892 from this marriage. The family settled for some time in Merksem
. In 1896 Luyten became a naturalized Belgian. He then established himself as an artist in Brasschaat
, near Antwerp. In his house, an old farmhouse surrounded by a large garden, he opened a private school of painting around 1900, the Institut des Beaux Arts Henry Luyten. Here he taught pupils from across Europe and the United States and let them paint from nature. His international students included Mara Corradini (Italy), Flora Zenker (Germany), Mary Poulle (USA), Pierre Blanc (Luxembourg), Maria Jansen (Netherlands), Mathilde Bernard (Belgium) and Hedwich Behnisch (Breslau). Hedwich Behnisch would become his second wife in 1917 after the death of his first wife Joanna. Hedwich was born in 1873 in Luszkowa (Hohenangern) in the former German province of Posen. Her family owned large estates and castles in Silesia, but lost everything after World War II.
Luyten was blamed after World War I
for his support for the Dutchification
of Ghent University
by the occupying Germans and his acceptance of a position at the Antwerp Academy during the war. He was boycotted by the establishment, had to give up his post at the Academy and had difficulty finding buyers for his work.
Embittered, he and his wife left Belgium for a number of years and the couple settled in northern Germany in Wieck am Darss on the Baltic Sea
. In 1923 he returned to Brasschaat as a convinced flamingant
.
At the end of 1923 Luyten stayed several weeks in Rueslikon on Lake Zurich
in Switzerland
. From that period date studies of the snowy Alps and artistic portraits of friends and family. He had shows in London in 1926 and in Manchester in 1928. Greatly disappointed with the Belgian boycott, Hendrik Luyten offered to donate his work to his birth city Roermond in 1930. Cuypers' son Jos offered a wing of the former home of his father to build a museum. This led to the foundation of the "Municipal Museum Hendrik Luyten-Dr. Cuypers' inaugurated by the then Princess Juliana in 1932. Henry was also appointed an Officer of the Order of Orange Nassau. On 19 January 1933, daughter Lieselotte was born. A year later his son Henry died.
Luyten had to pay for his perceived stance during the World War I twenty years later. At the start of World War II
, the octogenarian was jailed for one night. During the post-war repression following the liberation of parts of Belgium he was lifted from his sickbed in January 1945 and again jailed for one night. He died a few days later.
and Barbizon school
as well 17th century Dutch
and Flemish painting
.
One of his most famous works is The Golden Canvass of Flanders (“Het Gulden Doek van Vlaanderen”) in which Luyten depicts a fictional meeting of the one hundred odd people who in his opinion played a key role in Flemish history and the Flemish movement
. Catholic or liberal, activist or anti-German, alive or already deceased, he portrayed all against the backdrop of Rubens
' Descent from the Cross
. He worked on the painting for more than 10 years. It was donated to the IJzertoren
(Yser Tower) where it is kept in the museum.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
-born Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
painter.
Biography
Hendrik Luyten was born in Roermond, the Netherlands as the son of Francis Hubert Luyten (1833-1908) and Johanna Hendrica de Bee (1829-1904). He studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, BelgiumBelgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
from 1878. In 1883 he attended classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris with Alexander Cabanet. After 10 months he returned to Antwerp. In 1884 Henry became a member of the art circle "Als ik kan" ("If I can") and participated in a number of expositions. His main friends in the art circle were Henry van de Velde, Jan-Willem Rosier and Leon Brunin. From 1886 (Gold Medal from the Rijksmuseum
Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam or simply Rijksmuseum is a Dutch national museum in Amsterdam, located on the Museumplein. The museum is dedicated to arts, crafts, and history. It has a large collection of paintings from the Dutch Golden Age and a substantial collection of Asian art...
in Amsterdam) he became friends with Dutch artists Matthijs Maris
Matthijs Maris
Matthias Marris was a Dutch painter, etcher and lithographer. He was also known as Matthijs Maris or Thijs...
, Jacob Maris
Jacob Maris
Jacob Maris was a Dutch painter, who with his brothers Willem and Matthijs belonged to what has come to be known as the Hague School of painters....
, Hendrik-Willem Mesdag, Alma Tadema and the Italian painter Giovanni Segantini
Giovanni Segantini
Giovanni Segantini was an Italian painter known for his large pastoral landscapes of the Alps. He was one of the most famous artists in Europe in the late 19th century, and his paintings were collected by major museums. In later life he combined a Divisionist painting style with Symbolist images...
. Henry resided during 1886 and 1887 in the Borinage
Borinage
The Borinage is an area in the Walloon province of Hainaut. The provincial capital Mons is located in the east of the Borinage. In French the inhabitants are called Borains...
, a coalmining area in the south of Belgium where the working and living conditions of the miners were appaling. Here he witnessed the great strike and its bloody suppression. In response, he painted the triptych "The Strike" on which he worked until 1893. The painting (international title: "Struggle for Life") measures 3 to 5 meters. The painting on the right-hand panel (3 by 2 ½ meters) is called "After the uprising" and the left-hand panel is called "Misery".
On 17 April 1890 Henry married Joanna Francisca Brees (1854-1916). A son named Henry Francis was born on 28 November 1892 from this marriage. The family settled for some time in Merksem
Merksem
Merksem is a district of the municipality and city of Antwerp in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It has almost 41,000 inhabitants.-History:The history of Merksem goes back to Gallo-Roman times. During that period the region was mentioned as Merk and Heim being part of the diocese Kamerijk...
. In 1896 Luyten became a naturalized Belgian. He then established himself as an artist in Brasschaat
Brasschaat
Brasschaat is a municipality located in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, and in the Flemish province of Antwerp. The municipality only comprises the town of Brasschaat proper. In November 2006, Brasschaat won the LivCom-Award 2006 for the most liveable municipality in the world....
, near Antwerp. In his house, an old farmhouse surrounded by a large garden, he opened a private school of painting around 1900, the Institut des Beaux Arts Henry Luyten. Here he taught pupils from across Europe and the United States and let them paint from nature. His international students included Mara Corradini (Italy), Flora Zenker (Germany), Mary Poulle (USA), Pierre Blanc (Luxembourg), Maria Jansen (Netherlands), Mathilde Bernard (Belgium) and Hedwich Behnisch (Breslau). Hedwich Behnisch would become his second wife in 1917 after the death of his first wife Joanna. Hedwich was born in 1873 in Luszkowa (Hohenangern) in the former German province of Posen. Her family owned large estates and castles in Silesia, but lost everything after World War II.
Luyten was blamed after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
for his support for the Dutchification
Batavianization
Batavianization or Batavianisation also known as Dutchification and; historically, as Belgianization, is the spread of the Dutch language, people and/or culture either by force or assimilation...
of Ghent University
Ghent University
Ghent University is a Dutch-speaking public university located in Ghent, Belgium. It is one of the larger Flemish universities, consisting of 32,000 students and 7,100 staff members. The current rector is Paul Van Cauwenberge.It was established in 1817 by King William I of the Netherlands...
by the occupying Germans and his acceptance of a position at the Antwerp Academy during the war. He was boycotted by the establishment, had to give up his post at the Academy and had difficulty finding buyers for his work.
Embittered, he and his wife left Belgium for a number of years and the couple settled in northern Germany in Wieck am Darss on the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
. In 1923 he returned to Brasschaat as a convinced flamingant
Flamingant
The Dutch and French word flamingant refers to all activists of the Flemish movement and was initially used as a pejorative term by Belgicists to indicate nationalist Flemish people. It may be derived from Flamins, the Walloon word for Flemings. The word can be equally used as an adjective or...
.
At the end of 1923 Luyten stayed several weeks in Rueslikon on Lake Zurich
Lake Zurich
Lake Zurich is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. It is also known as Lake Zürich and Lake of Zürich. It lies approximately at co-ordinates ....
in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. From that period date studies of the snowy Alps and artistic portraits of friends and family. He had shows in London in 1926 and in Manchester in 1928. Greatly disappointed with the Belgian boycott, Hendrik Luyten offered to donate his work to his birth city Roermond in 1930. Cuypers' son Jos offered a wing of the former home of his father to build a museum. This led to the foundation of the "Municipal Museum Hendrik Luyten-Dr. Cuypers' inaugurated by the then Princess Juliana in 1932. Henry was also appointed an Officer of the Order of Orange Nassau. On 19 January 1933, daughter Lieselotte was born. A year later his son Henry died.
Luyten had to pay for his perceived stance during the World War I twenty years later. At the start of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the octogenarian was jailed for one night. During the post-war repression following the liberation of parts of Belgium he was lifted from his sickbed in January 1945 and again jailed for one night. He died a few days later.
Works
As a painter, Luyten was very versatile. Best known as an impressionist landscape painter, he also excelled in portraits and genre scenes. He was influenced by the 19th century Hague SchoolHague School
The Hague School is the name given to a group of artists who lived and worked in The Hague between 1860 and 1890. Their work was heavily influenced by the realist painters of the French Barbizon school. The painters of the Hague school generally made use of relatively sombre colours, which is why...
and Barbizon school
Barbizon school
The Barbizon school of painters were part of a movement towards realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870...
as well 17th century Dutch
Dutch Golden Age painting
Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history generally spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years War for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republic was the most prosperous nation in Europe, and led European trade,...
and Flemish painting
Flemish painting
Flemish painting flourished from the early 15th century until the 17th century. Flanders delivered the leading painters in Northern Europe and attracted many promising young painters from neighbouring countries. These painters were invited to work at foreign courts and had a Europe-wide influence...
.
One of his most famous works is The Golden Canvass of Flanders (“Het Gulden Doek van Vlaanderen”) in which Luyten depicts a fictional meeting of the one hundred odd people who in his opinion played a key role in Flemish history and the Flemish movement
Flemish movement
The Flemish Movement is a popular term used to describe the political movement for emancipation and greater autonomy of the Belgian region of Flanders, for protection of the Dutch language, and for the over-all protection of Flemish culture and history....
. Catholic or liberal, activist or anti-German, alive or already deceased, he portrayed all against the backdrop of Rubens
Rubens
Rubens is often used to refer to Peter Paul Rubens , the Flemish artist.Rubens may also refer to:- People :Family name* Paul Rubens Rubens is often used to refer to Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), the Flemish artist.Rubens may also refer to:- People :Family name* Paul Rubens (composer) Rubens is...
' Descent from the Cross
Descent from the Cross
The Descent from the Cross , or Deposition of Christ, is the scene, as depicted in art, from the Gospels' accounts of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking Christ down from the cross after his crucifixion . In Byzantine art the topic became popular in the 9th century, and in the West from the...
. He worked on the painting for more than 10 years. It was donated to the IJzertoren
IJzertoren
The IJzertoren is a memorial along the Belgian Yser river in Diksmuide. There have been two IJzertorens, the first built after the First World War by an organisation of former Flemish soldiers...
(Yser Tower) where it is kept in the museum.
External links
- ""Henry Luyten"" at http://www.museum.roermond.nl/index8445.htm
- ""Henry Luyten"" at http://www.nga.nu/mnkunstenaar.asp?artistnr=14296&vane=1&em=&meer=&sessionti=828908524.
- ""Toespraak bij de opening van de tentoonstelling Hendrik Luyten te Brasschaat"", http://www.caluwe.be/?navigatieid=10&berichtid=1866.
- "De kunstschilder Henry Luyten" at http://www.luiten-luyten.nl/index.php?q=node/1.
- Web page of the IJzertoren museum showing the painting The Golden Canvass of Flanders at "http://www.ijzertoren.org/?action=onderdeel&onderdeel=19&titel=1ste+verdieping
- "Oorlogssmet kleeft aan opgeknapt doek", article on the checkered history of the painting The Golden Canvass of Flanders at http://www.volkskrant.nl/archief_gratis/article775941.ece/Oorlogssmet_kleeft_aan_opgeknapt_doek