André Edmond Alfred Cluysenaar (31 May 1872, Saint-Gilles - 17 April 1939,

Uccle Uccle () or Ukkel () is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. In common with all of Brussels' municipalities, it is legally bilingual (French–Dutch). It is generally considered an affluent area of the city a ...

) was a Belgian painter. He was especially known for portraits and female figures.

Life and work

He was member of the

Cluysenaar family The Cluysenaar is a Belgian family notably of architects and artists. History The original familyroots of this catholic family originate in Tirol, Flirsch. Form the original branch some famous people descends, among them Erich Klausener who w ...

, descendant from a long line of architects who originated in

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

, where the family name was spelled "Klausener". Perhaps the best-known among these was his grandfather

Jean-Pierre Cluysenaar Jean-Pierre Cluysenaar (1811–1880) was a Belgian architect. He is the father of the Cluysenaar family. Family He was born in Kampen in the Netherlands as a son of Joannes Kluysenaar and Garidenia Kluysenaar, a Dutch family of architec ...

. His wife, Alice Gordon, was related to

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

. He received his first art lessons from his father, then studied with

François-Joseph Navez François-Joseph Navez (16 November 1787 – 12 October 1869) was a Belgian neo-classical painter. Biography Navez was born in Charleroi. He was a pupil of Jacques-Louis David. He spent five years in Italy between 1817 and 1822. Between 1835 ...

. Initially, he worked as a sculptor, but devoted himself entirely to painting after 1902. He was firmly grounded in the

romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

style at first; producing still lifes and

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

scenes, but later turned to

impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

and painted mostly female figures, often semi-nude. He also executed monumental ceiling paintings for the City Hall in Saint-Gilles. During World War I, he lived in London where he established a reputation painting portraits of notable people, including the Royal Family, which were done in a more commercial style using Alfred Stevens as a model. Most of these portraits may be seen in the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

Honours

* 1919 : Knight of the

Order of Leopold Order of Leopold may refer to: * Order of Leopold (Austria), founded in 1808 by emperor Francis I of Austria and discontinued in 1918 * Order of Leopold (Belgium), founded in 1832 by king Leopold I of Belgium * Order of Leopold II, founded in Congo ...

. * 1934 : Officer in the Order of the Crown.Royal order of 7.4.1934

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cluysenaar, Andre 1872 births 1939 deaths Klausener Family People from Saint-Gilles, Belgium Portrait painters 20th-century Belgian painters

Life and work

Honours

References

Further reading

External links