Henri Mathy (1897-1978) - Sculpture, 'Sensucht' - 26.5 cm - Bronze

Henri Mathy (Landen 1897 - Brussels 1978) moved to Antwerp at sixteen to take drawing lessons and received advice and support from Charles Houben. He spent World War I on the front and drew the ruined Flemish landscapes there. Further training at the Academy in Mechelen. First individual exhibition at the 'Galerie Nouvelle' in Paris in 1929.

Evolved from socially engaged subjects to rural genre scenes and landscapes. His work moves on the boundary between Flemish expressionism and the Brabantine tradition. Also known as an illustrator (Emile Verhaeren). Retrospective exhibitions in Tienen in 1936 and at the Bortier Gallery in Brussels in 1989.

For the time being this is the only known bronze sculpture of his hand. Stylistically positioned between the strongly symbolic art in the vein of the great Belgian artist George Minne (1866-1941) and the mischievous and sometimes explicitly sexual Art Deco styling of the Roaring Twenties. The underside of the sculpture is drawn in chalk with the word 'Sensucht'. It is unclear whether this was added by the artist himself, also because in German it should be written Sehnsucht. Meaning: a deep longing. The word acquired a special meaning during the Romantic period.

Wikipedia: Sehnsucht is a fundamental German Romantic concept, often described as a painful, inexhaustible craving for something unattainable or undefined. It combines intense longing (sehnen) with a pathological addiction (Sucht), and is central in 19th-century literature, art and music as a reaction to everyday reality.

It is not difficult to relate this to Mathy’s terrible experiences of World War I.

Felt and dated 1925 with signature.

Good condition.

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