The ninth expo of and in Het Spilliaert Huis (HSH) was not held in April due to the dilapidated condition that the Immovable Heritage Unit found in the Royal Galleries. Does this mean the end of a still young tradition of honoring Spilliaert in his own city with thematic exhibitions? The exhibition can now be seen in Brussels.
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Artistic director Anne Adriaens Pannier of HSH did receive a hospitable accommodation from the Lokerse auction house De Vuyst, but ultimately for the offer of the Patrick Derom Gallery & Gillis Goldman Fine Art in the Brussels Wolstraat 1. Curator Lieven Van Den Abeele: “The motto of the exhibition, Now or never, comes from a letter passage by Spilliaert and also illustrates how the artist feels that 1921 is an important year in his evolution as an artist. He is 40 years old, has lived with his wife and child in Brussels since 1917, exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1920, exhibits in Brussels and Liège and is invited by the most prestigious Belgian avant-garde gallery Sélection.” That summer, the family rents a holiday apartment in Spilliaert’s native city of Ostend, where he met the artist Constant Permeke and the later Kursaal director Henri Van De Putte, whose portraits he painted, just like a self-portrait. A year later, the painter will return to Ostend. “1921 is therefore clearly a pivotal year in his life, both private and artistic”, according to the curator.Future?With this ninth and last exhibition by HSH, the Ostend master unwittingly gets, after Paris and London, now also in the European capital. showcase for 37 of his works from 1921, almost all from private collections. There are the (self-)portraits, the trees, the marines, impressions of the old castle farm the Karreveld, fishermen’s wives…“1921 was also the year of the experiment: never before has Spilliaert used techniques interchangeably and a number of users influenced by cubism and abstraction”, according to Van Den Abeele. The future of HSH remains as obscure as the painter’s own navies to this day. At the Board of Directors in April, the decision was made to discontinue the activities of HSH and the members of the Board of Directors were asked to participate. The non-profit organization of the same name remains active until today. Wolstraat 1 in Brussels.