Roger van Belleghem - Unknown

Technique: Mixed media on paper.
Hand signed: Signed and dated by the artist lower right.
Year: 1987
Edition: Unique
Condition: Very good
Image dimensions: 53 x 67 cm within passe-partout.
Frame dimensions: Supplied with a mat. Mat dimensions: 88 x 72 cm.
The work is shipped flat.

Roger van Belleghem (1922-2002)
Roger Van Belleghem was a Belgian artist, born in Beernem in 1922 and died in Leuven in 2002. He was a painter and sculptor. He trained at the Academy in Bruges, at Sint-Lucas in Ghent, and at the National Higher Institute of Antwerp. He created portraits and surrealist compositions that demonstrate a great imagination. He often contrasted the female nude with the disunity, death, and aggression of society. He employed a highly refined technique. From the press: "His means of expression may vary—canvas, copper, iron—but his inner longings, his passion, remain one; the fear of the drama of life, the mystery of the human spirit, and all the misery of the inability to communicate. In the most typical paintings, this obsession erupts like a storm."

The tense, contorted bodies fleeing in who knows what sighs, the grinning, mocking masks, the unearthly cities collapsing into a red-gloom darkness or bearing witness to a silent world” and “RVB leads us along the paths of his fiction, secretly abandoning us at the first intersection and leaving us alone, powerless in the face of so much devilry. This worthy descendant of the great Flemish fantasists such as De Ghelderode, Jean Ray, Bosch, or Breugel, leaves us in no doubt that the wave of visions that rushes over us comes straight from his subconscious.” In 1966, he received the honorary diploma at the Salon d'Art Libre de Paris, in 1968 the Contemporary Art Prize (Belgium), and in 1980 the first Edm. Deglumes Prize in Mechelen. Tribute exhibitions were held in Sint-Genesius-Rode in 1987 and at the Casino Kursaal in Ostend in 1992. He also held numerous solo exhibitions in Belgium and abroad. Roger Van Belleghem has completed several official portrait commissions. He is listed in the Lexicon of West Flemish Visual Artists v, BAS I, and Two Centuries of Signatures by Belgian Artists.

Artistic style and theme
Van Belleghem is known for his surrealist compositions and portraits, often with a magical-realist touch. His works demonstrate a rich imagination and refined technique. A recurring theme in his oeuvre is the contrast between the female nude and social themes such as disunity, death, and aggression. He used various materials, including canvas, copper, and iron, to express his inner passions and fears. Critics consider him a worthy successor to Flemish visionaries such as De Ghelderode, Jean Ray, Bosch, and Breughel.

Exhibitions and recognition
During his career, Van Belleghem received several awards:
• Honorary Diploma at the Salon d'Art Libre in Paris (1966)
• Prize for Contemporary Art in Belgium (1968)
• First prize Edm. Deglumes in Mechelen (1980)
He had numerous solo exhibitions in Belgium and abroad, including tribute exhibitions in Sint-Genesius-Rode (1987) and the Casino Kursaal in Ostend (1992).