Floris Jespers - Black woman

The Belgian artist Floris Jespers (1889-1965) painted the painting *Negerin* in oil on panel (60x41 cm). It depicts his artistic adventure in the Congo in the 1950s, where he developed a long-standing and obsessive interest in the indigenous life of African tribes. His admiration for Negroid figuration took shape during those years and thereafter in many innovative paintings in various styles. In *Negerin*, the artist employed a personally expressive visual language in which the concept of the 'action' of painting is discernible. The figure is depicted in a large close-up in a manner that breaks with conventional aesthetics. Due to the strong stylization, the painting possesses a high degree of abstraction. The motif of the Black woman is robustly rendered using the warm-sounding pigments yellow and red ochre, as well as black paste. A patterned linear form is painted that appears decorative. The painting satisfies Jespers' interest in a plastic representation, in which the principles of realistic visualization have been abandoned. The Negress appears to be a tribute to Jesper's personal sensory experience of a Congolese reality. Through the reduction of forms and the use of matter, he suggests 'presence' and connectedness. As a modernist artist who has practiced many painting styles, this particular painting is reminiscent of the Arte Povera of the late 1960s and 1970s. With an innovative force, this unique painting displays his great passion for the indigenous people of Congo. Greet Hamming, Art Historian