Georges Buysse (1864-1916) - Les meules

Oil on canvas depicting haycocks and signed

Georges Buysse (1864-1916)

Georges-Léon-Ernest Buysse, born in Ghent on February 2, 1864, and who died in the same city on February 27, 1916, was a Belgian impressionist and luminist painter, as well as a lithographer.

Biography
Son of Augustin Buysse (Nevele, 1832 – Ghent, 1920), a cotton industry patron in Ghent ("Baertsoen & Buysse"), and Emma Hauff (1835-1865), from Bavaria, he married Marthe Baertsoen (1868-1958) in 1887, sister of the artist Albert Baertsoen and daughter of his father’s partner.

Georges Buysse’s family ties emphasize his kinship within literary and artistic circles: on his father’s side he is the first cousin of the Flemish author Cyriel Buysse; on his mother’s side he is related to the German romantic writer Wilhelm Hauff. He is also related to the sisters Rosalie Loveling and Virginie Loveling, both Dutch-language writers, and to the Flemish professor Julius Mac Leod[1].

Georges Buysse was destined to succeed his father at the head of one of the great textile industries. For this, he was sent to deepen his knowledge in mills in Germany and England. He gradually took over the family businesses during his father’s illness and definitively after his marriage.

In his spare time, Buysse took lessons from the Ghent painter Louis Tytgadt and visited museums. The painter Émile Claus, who was one of his friends, also gave him a lot of advice[2].

He began taking part in exhibitions only from 1894, at the urging of his friends, among them Émile Claus.

At the 1894 Salon of the Société nationale des beaux-arts in Paris, he exhibited two canvases depicting "effects of snow." Initially, he exhibited only abroad: Paris, Venice, Barcelona, London, Berlin, the United States... and it was only from 1900 that he began participating in exhibitions in his own country.

Internationally, art critics (articles in Le Figaro, Art Moderne, Le Matin, the Daily Telegraph, New York Herald, Kölnische Zeitung (de), Allgemeine Zeitung, the Times, Le Soir, Daily Express, etc.) welcomed him, such as Arsène Alexandre regarding the Paris Salon in Le Figaro of April 14, 1906, speaking of landscape painters: "Alone, or almost alone, the very beautiful Canal in December, by M. Buysse, seems to me to offer a real novelty. In terms of atmosphere, as a discovery of colors and lines, as a truth of feeling, it is one of the best Flemish landscapes we have seen in recent years."

He exhibited in the La Libre Esthétique salons in Brussels and in Ghent and Brussels art circles. At that time, his themes focused on landscapes and views of the city of Ghent, and views of gardened country residences in the Ghent area.

From 1899, he suffered from a degenerative disease for which no precise diagnosis was established. He went on a rest cure for several months in the South of France and the North of Italy with Émile Claus. He visited the surroundings of Nice (Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Villefranche) where he produced many sunny pastels.

In 1900 he settled in Wondelgem, in a magnificent house, Ter Vaert, designed by the Art Nouveau architect Paul Hankar. Increasingly limited in his movements, he enjoyed a view of the Ghent–Terneuzen Canal from there. This canal and the associated navigation—and thus through all seasons—would play a predominant role in his work.

In 1904, Buysse was one of the co-founders of the artistic circle Vie et Lumière, which grouped luminist painters such as Anna Boch, William Degouve de Nuncques, James Ensor, Adrien-Joseph Heymans, Georges Lemmen, Émile Claus, Jenny Montigny, Anna De Weert, Edmond Verstraeten, Aloïs De Laet, Georges Morren, Willem Paerels, Rodolphe De Saegher, and Alfred Hazledine.

After 1910, his illness almost prevented him from working. On the outbreak of World War I, he went into exile in England, despite his worsening illness. He soon returned, passing through the Netherlands, to Flanders where he died in Ghent on February 27, 1916, at the age of 52. His funeral took place in private.

Works
His early works were realist or pre-impressionist. The themes and overall atmosphere remain close to those found in Albert Baertsoen. His palette became lighter under the influence of Émile Claus and after their trip to the south of France. Thereafter, his work clearly took on impressionist and luminist characteristics.

He fully embraced luminism, especially as a co-founder of the artistic circle "Vie et Lumière," and he continued this emphasis on light and lighting effects in his painting.

Although his work enjoyed some international fame up to the 1922 retrospective, it fell into oblivion despite the presence of works in several major museums, including the Musée d’Orsay.

The work is signed bottom right.

dimensions: without frame 25 cm x 35 cm
: with frame 33 cm x 43 cm

Auction results for Georges BUYSSE in Painting:

Bordighera
Georges BUYSSE
Oil on canvas
30.8 x 39.7 cm
Estimate: €800 - €1,200
Hammer price: €2,200
23/06/2014
AAG - Arts & Antiques Group
+ more info (lot no. 86)
A view of the Mediterranean Sea with the Church of Sant’Ampelio (Bordighera)
Georges BUYSSE
Oil on canvas
30 x 38 cm
Estimate: €800 - €1,400
Hammer price: €1,600
18/05/2019
De Vuyst
+ more info (lot no. 94)
Bordighera
Georges BUYSSE
Oil on canvas
30.5 x 39.5 cm
Estimate: €1,812 - €2,718
Hammer price: €1,535
02/12/1997
Christie’s
+ more info (lot no. 350)
Boat on the Ghent–Terneuzen Canal at Wondelgem / Saint Catherine Church at Wondelgem, last rays
Georges BUYSSE
Oil on panel
26.5 x 36 cm
Estimate: €1,600 - €2,000
Hammer price: €1,400
23/10/2021
De Vuyst
+ more info (lot no. 59)