Read an Excerpt
A Sureness of Hand
The Art of Marie-Rose Coenegrachts
By Nesa L'abbe Wu
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2012 Nesa L'abbe Wu
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4772-6860-5
Chapter One
Characterization of the Artist's Work (Based cm numerous press releases)
The Artist's Palette
Marie-Rose Coenegrachts' path of great artistic achievement is accentuated by her many international prizes, honors and vast body of work. It started with her education and life path from Oostende - where she met James Ensor - to Tienen - where she created most of her work.
M.-R. Coenegrachts met Baron James Ensor in 1935. He encouraged her and supported her until his death. It was with him that she shared her first exhibition in the Studio of Oostende. This was her springboard into the world of the arts. Because of this contact and her strong personality, she found the strength to better bring forward her own self, elevating her unique personal talents, rather than gravitating as a satellite around this great master.
Her paintings reflect her personal reactions to observed moments in her pathway through life. She saw these moments from her perspective. She was a visual and realistic artist who expressed her feelings, mood, and character through shades and dense paint. This expression is manifested in the diverse elements she observed and painted, whether it was a landscape, a view of a mountain, a scenery of the sea, a lively flower arrangement, a rare portrait, or a still life.
Her style exhibits a strong temperament and spontaneity. From her youth onward, the artist chose her own style. She created her art based on her vision of things surrounding her and her convictions were never influenced by anything or anyone. Through many years, she remained stubborn, bringing "realistic art" that reflected part of her soul, which she presented in a unity of pictorial expressions and the succinct character of her unique style.
Mr. Vangelder, an art critic who gave the introductory words during her exhibition in 1966, called M.-R. Coenegrachts the "lonely one" because she did not attach herself to any well-defined art genre. Indeed, there is not one single "-ism" to classify this painter.
She created a variety of work on canvas and paper, the same variety that is part of nature and things surrounding us. Her forceful mountain paintings and other monumental landscapes are full of dramatic emotions; her burning sunsets are abundant with plastic effects; her mountain lakes are reflecting; her sea sceneries are punctuated with dim light; while her tender poetic flower pieces are overwhelmed with warm colors. It is such diversity that keeps her work in balance with the world around her, just the way she saw its harmony.
M.-R. Coenegrachts holds an enviable and remarkable place in the artistic movement of the city of Oostende and Tienen. She was always loyal to the promises she exhibited in her beginning work, a work that is sincere, with technique that is solid and precise. Critics have admired her work for her extraordinary skills, yet subtle treatment of her chosen material.
From the collection of her work, we can conclude that the artist had a profound admiration for landscapes. Herein she anchored expressions of her travel through the continents of Europe, Africa, and North America. Sketchbook in hand, she traveled the vast outdoors, where she received her personal vision of the beauty of these continents and consequently painted it in her studio on large canvases with an epic vision and a personal touch that only she possessed.
M.-R. Coenegrachts especially became famous for her mountain landscapes. This is a very difficult genre as one contemplates that even the great artist Albert Servaes did not succeed in painting such a difficult subject. Her undeniable attraction to the mountain landscapes perhaps lies in her feeling for the mystic and cosmic power. She found this hidden in the Alpine landscapes she adored as a young artist while traveling with her parents during summer vacations. With landscapes she was able to express her strong feelings for space and wide expanses.
These canvases of rough and wild mountain landscapes reflect abundant layers of paint in a very special color scheme, applied with both knife and brush.
She was attracted to clouded and vast mountain horizons, which she treated with thick pliable paste in juxtaposing harmonies, using a wide range of greens and fine grays. Here the artist demonstrated a harshness of expression that was seldom seen from a woman. With forceful masculine strokes she kneaded her landscapes, spreading her paint with spontaneous freedom and cutting motions in broad nuances that grew into vast color- shapes to a balanced constructed wholeness. Some of her strong personality is reflected in these landscapes: there is neither tenderness, nor feminine romance, nor passion. For example, when she painted the "Storm over Saas-Fee" on page 25, she represented a sky full of very realistic storm clouds. There indeed lie dramatic emotions in her mountain landscapes that are vigorously brushed with sometimes whimsical, baroque-like form. Her intense sensitivity and her profound vision of dynamics of forms are projected in these rough heights, where serene quietness and nothingness reign in a soft intensity of light. She possessed the unique gift to reflect this in her work. Indeed she expressed with intense force of brush and knife her confrontation with the chaotic mountain landscapes.
Dreaminess, vagueness, and weakness were not her style! It is not the mountain landscape, purely pictorially considered, that impresses the viewer, but rather the soul that is reflected in her work through the mystique that hangs around her majestic mountain landscapes.
A close study of her mountain paintings reveals three major phases of her artistic style. In her earlier work these mountains are painted using geometric shapes similar to cubism. However, it is not quite like cubism because these geometric shapes are what she sees, not an abstraction. Examples of this style can be seen in "Aosta Valley" on page 9 and the "Mountain Lake" on this page.
Later on, she paints in her typical style, with a strong hand, reflecting the overwhelming power of the mountains using various shades of grays, greens and blues, worked out on the canvas in a muscular way with both brush and knife. This is the style shown in two of her prize paintings: "Valley of Argeles" as seen on page 24 and "Storm over Saas-Fee" on page 25.
In her last phase her mountains are softer, more colorful and detailed with intimate nuances as shown on page 6 of the "Imst Valley" and page 12 of "Calpe."
Though gifted for her mountain landscapes, she treated all sorts of subjects. Her large landscape of the Dordogne, for example, is said to be executed in the genre of Cezanne, where the successive planes have real meaning of depth and relationships of worthiness. In her Dutch and Flemish landscapes and her marinas she reached for softer and more intimate nuances, while her sea landscapes are punctuated with deep emotions of fine light, very correct of the Flemish evenings.
Many of her flower arrangements have been adored and mentioned in the press, particularly her "Sunflowers."
M.-R. Coenegrachts was one of the rare Flemish artists who knew how to simultaneously combine what is heavy and light, what is strong and tender, and what is harsh and mystical. Despite the fact that people practically never appear in her work she was a humanist, in the finest sense of the word, because her paintings reflect the incredible panoply of emotions and comprehension that comprises the human comedy.
Chapter Two
The Artist's Philosophy
Marie-Rose Coenegrachts was born in Hampstead, London, on February 14, 1915 and died in Tienen, Belgium, on February 20, 1996.
She studied at the Technical Institute for Decorative Art, Het Heilig Graf Instituut, in Turnhout, Belgium, where in 1935 she received the State Certificate of Instructor in Decorative Art with the highest distinction.
On August 30, 1938, she married Bertram L'abbé of Oostende, Belgium. Together, they had five children: Ina (1939), Gerrit (1940), Nesa (1942), Joost (1943) and Mia (1948). From youth until her death she devoted herself to her family and the art of painting.
Marie-Rose Coenegrachts' philosophy towards life is well reflected in her work and in how she raised and educated her five children. With a strong personality, she radiated a deep sense of ethics, righteousness, and ambition. Through her example she impressed these characteristics onto her children. It was her sincere wish that all her children receive the highest possible education, an education she was denied because of the views of the times she lived in. She was extremely intelligent and would have done very well if she had been given the opportunity to do university studies. Because of this lack of opportunity to earn a university degree herself, she insisted on giving each of her five children the chance to earn such a degree.
This proud and ambitious mother was well rewarded for her efforts: Ina received her degree in pharmacology from the University of Louvain, Belgium, and worked as a pharmacist; Gerrit received his doctoral degree in chemistry from the University of Louvain, where he later worked as a professor; Nesa received her engineering economics degree from the University of Louvain, as well as her doctorate in industrial engineering from Purdue University, U.S.A., and became a professor at a major university in the United States; Joost received his agricultural engineering degree from the University of Louvain, and worked as an engineer and pharmaceutical representative; and Mia received her degree in geology from the University of Gent, Belgium, and became a high school teacher.
As a mother, M.-R. Coenegrachts was strict, but fair and proper. Her motto and view of life's success was simply this: one can only succeed in life through hard work; giving up is never an option. She indeed had a correct view on life!
In 1935, while living in Oostende, Belgium, (from 1923 until 1944) she became acquainted with the great Master Baron James Ensor with whom she was in contact until his death. He encouraged her to continue painting and with him she held her first exhibition.
In 1944, she moved with her family to the province of Brabant (Belgium), where they settled in Tienen. From 1959 until 1980, she was a teacher of decorative art in the Technical Institute of Immaculata in Tienen, Belgium, and the Institute Mariadal in Hoegaarden, Belgium.
Marie-Rose Coenegrachts' passion was in painting mountains and landscapes. To inspire her motivation, she traveled to Holland, Luxemburg, France, Germany, Monaco, England, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Liechtenstein, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, the former Yugoslavia, Denmark, Norway, Greece, Cyprus, the Greek Isles, Finland, Sweden, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, the U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico. There she sketched the landscape and consequently worked it out in her atelier, where she created a vast collection of artistic work.
Chapter Three
The Artist's Accomplishments
She was the recipient of many international and national distinctions and awards:
In 1955, she obtained, at the international exhibition in Algiers, the "Grand Prix du Constantino is" with her painting "Old Mill" (there were 200 participants from 23 countries).
At the second international exhibition in Vichy, France, she obtained in 1955, with unanimous votes and congratulations of the jury, the "Prix du Comité de France" for both her works: "Rocamadour" and "Valley of Argelès".
In 1961, she was crowned in Vichy, France, the "Prix de la Critique" with "Storm over Saas-Fee." At this exhibition, thirty countries participated.
Other distinctions and awards include three bronze medals, three silver medals, and two international awards for her artistic accomplishments: "Croix d'Honneur de Chevalier" (in 1973) and "Croix d'Honneur d'Officier" (in 1977).
She also was a member of the U.F.A.B (Union Féminine Artistique Belge) with international exchanges; the U.F.A.C.S.I (Union Féminine Artistique, Culturelle, et Scientifique International); the C.V.K.V. (Christelijk Vlaams Kunstenaarsverbond); and the Académie Européenne des Arts, an international organization. In March 1961, she founded the Tiense Kunstkring (Artistic Circle of Tienen) for which she did secretarial work until 1964.
In addition to her personal and group exhibitions, Marie-Rose Coenegrachts participated in twenty-eight international exhibitions of which nine were in North Africa and one in the United States:
Algeria: in 1955 and'59
- Constantine: 1955
- Philippeville: 1955
Tunisia: yearly from 1955 through '57 and in 1960 & 1961 France:
- Vichy: yearly from 1955 through '59, 1961, '62, '64, '66 & '68
- Cannes: 1956,
- Clermont-Ferrand: yearly from 1957 through '59, 1963/65 & '68
- St.-Raphaël: 1957
U.S.A.
- West Lafayette, IN.: 1967 (Purdue University)
Noteworthy Belgian exhibitions in chronological order are:
1936: in Studio, Oostende (jointly with James Ensor)
1937, 1938 & 1939: in Studio, Oostende
1939: in City Hall, Tongeren
1941: in Zaal Van Iseghemlaan, Oostende
1942: in Stadsschouwburg, Kortrijk
1943: in Tramhuis, Oostende; in City Hall, Roeselare; and in Sint-Jozefscollege, Izegem
1954. 1956. 1959. 1961 & 1964: in Akademie, Tienen
1955: in Vlaamse klub, Brüssel
1957: in Architektenhuis, Brüssel
1964: in St.Baafsgalerij, Gent
1966: in the Bank van Brüssel, Tienen (a retrospective)
1967: in Koninkijk Ateneum, Tienen
1980: in Faculty Hall, Leuven
1981: in Immaculata Institute Tienen (a retrospective -50 years-)
1983: in Lions Erasmus, Leuven (group exhibition)
1984: in Viering van Gelderen (group exhibition)
1984: in National Institute of the Arts, Brussel
From 1933 until 1984, Marie-Rose Coenegrachts participated in numerous group exhibitions in various cities of Belgium: Mechelen, Antwerp, Oostende, Gent (the Royal Casino), Newport, Bruges, Tienen, Anderlecht, Wijgmaal, Rotselaar, and Brussels.
Her work can be found in many private collections in Belgium, in the United States of America, and in Africa. Her work is part of the art collection of the cities of Oostende, Roeselare, and Tienen, the Sint-Jozefscollege of Izegem, the Heilig-Graf Instituut of Turnhout, and the Minderbroeders-Konventuelen of Leuven. In 1961, the State University of Gent, Belgium, bought her complete collection of lithographs and she painted for the monastery in Leuven, Belgium, a large decorative work representing Brother Kolbe.
The Belgian Radio interviewed her twice and on May 12, 1956, after she obtained two international prizes, a thirty minute commentary was dedicated to Marie-Rose Coenegrachts on Flemish TV: "Kennismaking met Mw Coenegrachts (translation: Get to know Mrs. Coenegrachts)," a presentation by P. van de Sype.
A monograph of M.-R. Coenegrachts by Staf Vangelder appeared in "Profielen van hedendaagse kunstenaars (translation: Profiles of Contemporary Artists)" published by Pentagoon, Wilsele.
Chapter Four
Press Citations
From 1936 until her death, much was written about her art. The following captures the essence of each of these articles.
In May, 1936, following her first exhibition in the Studio of Oostende with James Ensor, at the young age of 21, two very complimentary articles appeared in two publications:
... From the outset M.-R. Coenegrachts takes an honorable place amongst Belgian painters such as Suzanne Van Damme, Suzanne Cocq and others whose names already have a nice sound in the world of the arts. A new star rises at art heaven. Let us closely follow her walk, for she will offer us many pleasant surprises ...:
"... Van meet af aan neemt M.-R. Coenegrachts een eervolle plaats in de rij der Belgische schilderessen als Suzanne Van Damme, Suzanne Cocq en andere waarvan de naam reeds een mooie klank heeft in de kunstwereld. Een nieuwe ster rijst op aan de kunsthemel. Laat ons ze aandachtig volgen in hare loop, ze zal ons menige aangename verrassingen bezorgen ..." Kustland, May 8, 1936
... When one visits the exhibition, which is now organized in the Studio, one is especially struck by the great spontaneity of the works which hang there. Nothing hints that it has to do with a young artist who only in recent years has learned the technique of painting. Some of her paintings exhibit a strong temperament that promises more of such strong pieces ...:
"... Wanneer men nu de tentoonstelling bezoekt, die thans in de Studio is ingericht, wordt men vooral getroffen door de grote spontaniteit van de werken welke daar hangen. Niets herinnert eraan dat men met een jeugdige kunstenares te doen heeft die de techniek van schilderen pas sedert enkele jaren heeft aangeleerd. In sommige schilderijen vooral breekt een temperament los, dat wel meer van die forsige stukken belooft..." Duinengalm, May 1, 1936
Her second exhibition in April 1937, in the Studio of Oostende, inspired several quotes in news articles.
In Duinensalm it is noted that M.-R. Coenegrachts chooses an art form of pure honesty, striving towards pure artistic format:
"... Gij hebt, M.-R. Coenegrachts, de tweede weg gekozen, die van voile eerlijkheid en van het zuiver artistiek streven ..." Duinenzalm, April 2, 1937
(Continues...)
Excerpted from A Sureness of Hand by Nesa L'abbe Wu Copyright © 2012 by Nesa L'abbe Wu. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
