Frans Depooter (1898-1987) - Fleurs au vase

Oil on canvas, depicting a bouquet of flowers in a vase signed

Frans Depooter (1898-1987)

Frans Depooter, born in Mons on 24 November 1898 and died in Maffe (Havelange) on 13 August 1987[1], is a Belgian painter, landscapist, still life painter and portraitist.

Biography
Frantz André Antoine Depooter, born in Mons on 24 November 1898, is the son of François Depooter, decorator-painter and entrepreneur, and Rosa Colmant. On 15 December 1923, he married the artist Andrée Bosquet, a young student whom he met at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Mons.

Before and after the First World War, his father’s workshop produced sets for private interiors and for many theaters. It is thus that Franz Depooter began working at age 13 in the family business where he met Anto Carte, Fernand Gommaerts, Léon Navez and Léon Devos. In 1928, they would co-found the Nervia Group[2].

After finishing middle school in Mons, Frans Depooter was first a surveyor, qualified by the Institute Simon Stévin in Brussels. From 1912 to 1914, he was enrolled at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Mons where he notably studied engraving with Alfred Duriau. He then took classes at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels and in 1917, was deported by the Germans to France during World War I[2].

After the Armistice of November 1918, he followed courses with Jean Delville and Constant Montald in Brussels. He then returned to Mons where he contributed to the family workshop’s work and studied in the evenings at the Mons Royal Academy of Fine Arts (with Émile Motte). Noticed by the latter, he taught as temporary lecturer from 1923 to 1925 at the Mons Royal Academy of Fine Arts[2].

From 1926 to 1930, passionate about nature, he settled in the wooded environment of Wauthier-Braine where he devoted himself to poultry farming[2].

Returning to painting, he joined in October 1930 as a drawing teacher in secondary education. Six years later, he taught painting at the School of Decorative Arts in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, of which he became director from 1944[2].

During World War II, he participated in the armed Resistance[1].

He took part in exhibitions of the Mons-based artistic circle “Le Bon Vouloir” and in 1935 exhibited at the Palace of Fine Arts in Brussels a set of his canvases[2].

He painted landscapes of Walloon Brabant, the Ardennes, Collioure, Spain and Corsica[2].

Artistic style
Of poetic inclination, Frans Depooter deepened his resolutely figurative style in accordance with his nature. His stylized still lifes, his landscapes and his expressionist figures give way early to refined works of apparent simplicity. His portraits on a plain background isolate themselves in the dream or inner life of the subject. His flowers form fragile and tender bouquets. His landscapes, often treated in half-tones and transposed by nuanced light, bear witness to a discreet sensitivity (he was nicknamed: the Cantor of the Walloon Brabant). Frans Depooter’s talent is characterized by a search for measure, refinement and poetry.

Distinctions
He received various distinctions including[1]:

Knight of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) Knight of the Order of the Crown in 1956;
Gold Medal at the Exposition of Decorative Arts (Art Deco) in Paris in 1925;
Hainaut Prize in 1939;
Prize of the City of Mons - Claire Sauté in 1967;
Charles Caty Prize of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Mons in 1969;
Gold Medal of European Artistic Merit.

Dimensions of the work : unframed : 80 cm x 65 cm
: with frame : 93 cm x 79 cm

The work is dated 1966 and signed at the lower right.

Auction results for Frans DEPOOTER in Painting:

Young girl visiting (1963)
Frans DEPOOTER
Oil/board
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Estimate: €200 - €400
Hammer price: €1,700
25/03/2024
Crait + Müller
Bouquet of field flowers (1943)
No image

Bouquet of field flowers (1943)
Frans DEPOOTER
Oil/canvas
80 x 66 cm
Estimate: €800 - €1,200
Hammer price: €1,000
17/01/2006
Vanderkindere
Flowered jug
No image

Flowered jug
Frans DEPOOTER
Oil/canvas
80 x 70 cm
Estimate: €1,000 - €1,500
Hammer price: €950
14/10/1996
Horta
Bouquet of flowers (1952)
Frans DEPOOTER
Oil/board
80 x 60 cm
Estimate: €120 - €180
Hammer price: €720
12/02/2023
Monsantic