Description

Info on Edgard Tytgat :

Edgard Tytgat (Brussels, April 28, 1879 – Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, January 11, 1957) was a Belgian Expressionist painter, bookplate designer and graphic artist.

Tytgat grew up in Bruges and in Brussels. From 1897 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. There he was influenced by Fauvism and Post-Impressionism. Like many of his Flemish colleagues, Tytgat initially painted in an impressionist style under the influence of Paul Cézanne, Pierre Bonnard and Ambroise Vollard. Only after World War I did he develop the style with which he became known. Tytgat joined the Brabant fauvists who had united around Rik Wouters.

During the First World War he lived in exile in London. He then settled in the surroundings of Brussels. His painting style evolved into a more personal one, inspired by expressionism and folk prints from the 18th and 19th centuries. Tytgat’s favorite subjects were the circus, fairs (especially carousels), nudes and interiors. He found his subjects in his immediate surroundings: Brussels, Nivelles and later in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, where he lived from 1924. In Tytgat’s style, the influence of primitive folk art is clearly present. Towards the end of his life, he turned away from folk subjects and painted more fantasy-like scenes.

From 1920, Tytgat belonged to the group of Flemish expressionists around the magazine Sélection. His work from this period shows the influence of Gustaaf De Smet.

Throughout his career, the Brussels artist Edgard Tytgat painted almost five hundred canvases and produced thousands of watercolors, woodcuts, etchings, and drawings. He belonged to the group of artists around the magazine Sélection, yet his work cannot be placed in a particular movement. Thus, one cannot delineate clear periods in his work and a clear chronological evolution is missing. His first works can be considered impressionistic, while later work is described as expressionistic or naive.

Tytgat’s world is bittersweet. His works are bathed in an atmosphere of childlike fantasies, eroticism, and lost innocence. Everyday life and events from his own environment are a great source of inspiration. For example, his wife Maria or his good friend Rik Wouters often figure in his work. But also the more popular aspect comes forward in his music, circus and variety scenes. He also knows his art history and reverts to these classical themes in his works.