Jules Boulez (1889-1960) - Colette

The painter Jules Boulez (1889 - 1969) belonged to the third group of the Latemse School. The group includes: Hubert Malfait, Albert Saverys, Jozef De Coene, Arthur Deleu, Albert Claeys, Victor Lorein, Achiel Van Sassenbroeck, Louis Pevernagie and Maurice Schelck.

He was born in Sint-Eloois-Vijve (West Flanders) on May 6, 1889. He studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent under the direction of Jan Delvin and Georges Minne. Two fellow students remained good friends: Albert Saverijs and Albert Claeys. He also studied in Paris at the Louvre school. In 1916 he settled in Oudenaarde. Besides painting, he was also an excellent modernist cabinetmaker. Exhibitions of his work were organized, among others, in Paris, Stockholm, Budapest, Brussels, Tel Aviv, Rotterdam, Dresden and in his own country, among others in Brussels, Ghent and Kortrijk.

Jules Boulez is listed in the Lexicon of West Flemish visual artists I, BAS I and Two centuries of signatures of Belgian artists. (Piron)

The painting depicts a young, naked woman in her bedroom. On the back of the canvas, next to the inscription 1943, the name ‘Colette’ is written. Who was Colette? Will we ever know?

Although the expressionist work at first glance appears somber in color, there are very interesting (color) details to discover. In the upper left we see, for example, a curtain with subtle blue and purple tones. Below it is the washbasin with a striking water feature, almost gold-colored. A somewhat surprising accent is the red blush on the woman's face. Behind her is a bed with bars, also with the light decorative accents of the sheets. To the left of the bed a simple chair. A motif that recurs regularly in his works. The woman herself has a beautiful, powerful build and a self-assured demeanor. She may have been a prostitute.

The frame is very sober and has fortunately not been replaced over the years. Because Jules Boulez was also a talented furniture designer, the list is certainly by him himself. The painting is dated on the back 1943, the middle of World War II. This perhaps explains the shortage of the right wood or financial means as the motive for this very simple but authentically intact frame.