Allegory of America

Raymond Dierickx

1904 – 1978

Work on paper, gouache and pastels, dimensions 73 x 110 cms, signed lower right.

It was for us a real discovery that this beautiful Belgian artist, curiously a little forgotten!
After extensive research, we were able to learn a little more about this forgotten Bénézit.
Of course, the Internet contributed a lot to the information we gleaned here and there (thanks to the excellent Galerie du Pistolet d’Or in Brussels!), But also the great dictionary of Belgian painters and a few other works.
He was the son of Joseph (José) Dierickx and the nephew of Omer Dierickx, a family of artists!
After his training at the Academy of Brussels from 1909 to 1920 with Constant Montald, Jean Delville and Emile Fabry, he had a first exhibition at the Galerie Georges Giroux in Brussels in 1926. Founding member of the “Héracles” Group.
He was a long time professor at the School of Art of Ixelles from 1932.
He shows a predilection for paintings of processions, festivals, fairs, for landscapes and allegorical compositions.
Painter of a mystical campaign placed under the sign of escape and the imagery of past centuries, he manifests a certain tenderness for those injured in life, crippled and blind, which he often places in counterpoint in his religious compositions. , as if to remind us not to forget them …
Author of large and very colorful compositions often intended to become frescoes or large decorations, often with an exotic theme, Africa, Indonesia, America, Asia, etc., or allegorical such as “La Pêche” and “L’Enfer”.
He participated in the International Exhibitions of Liège (1930) and Brussels (1935) as well as the Belgian Art Exhibition in Oslo in 1935.
His works are kept in the Collections of the Museum of Fine Arts of Brussels, Mons, and Reims, the Museum of Ixelles and the Province of Brabant.
In the press: “Raymond Dierickx introduces us to a mystical world. It is the known world of images of previous centuries. In his great works, colors can rival enamel. His palette shows poetic splendor. He captures the light and let it shine again in his work. “
Even found in leaves and dusty, these works once prepared and framed reveal all the talent of Raymond Dierickx (1904-1978), close to artists like Nicolas Eeckmann, Fritz Van den Berghe, Constant Permeke or even more Anto Carte and d ‘ other typically Flemish expressionists, representing Feasts, processions, fairs in the great tradition of Flemish painters dating back to the 17th century with the Brueghels, but treated with great modernity.
In order to best serve his subject, Dierickx uses all kinds of techniques: if the drawing is omnipresent, in pencil as in charcoal, he enhances it sometimes with pastel, sometimes with watercolor, often introducing gouache, colored pencils or oil to achieve to its goal, often presenting a human foreground with, in the background, the scene itself in a slight dive.
The works that we are proud to present in this exhibition have been found all over France and Belgium, some prepared and framed, and we hope that they will seduce you as much as we do.

Diane et Eric Lhoste                                                                       Thérèse et Jean Bruno Lafouresse