Floris Jespers (18 March 1889 in

Borgerhout Borgerhout () is the smallest district of Antwerp, Belgium. , the district houses 45,769 inhabitants on 3,93 km². It was an independent municipality until January 1983. The postal area code for Borgerhout is 2140. Geography Borgerhout is divided ...

– 16 April 1965 in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

Avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

painter. After his graduation from the

Antwerp Academy The Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp ( nl, Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten van Antwerpen) is an art academy located in Antwerp, Belgium. It is one of the oldest of its kind in Europe. It was founded in 1663 by David Teniers the Younger ...

of Fine Arts, he hooked up with the poet

Paul Van Ostaijen Paul van Ostaijen (22 February 1896 – 18 March 1928) was a Belgian Dutch-language poet and writer. Nickname Van Ostaijen was born in Antwerp to Dutch father and Flemish mother. His nickname was ''Mister 1830'', derived from his habit of walki ...

and joined the Antwerp avant-garde movement of the 1920s. He contributed to the publications ''

Ça Ira "" (; French: "it'll be fine") is an emblematic song of the French Revolution, first heard in May 1790. It underwent several changes in wording, all of which used the title words as part of the refrain. Original version The author of the orig ...

'', ''Le Centaure'' and ''Sélection'' and befriended

Jean Metzinger Jean Dominique Antony Metzinger (; 24 June 1883 – 3 November 1956) was a major 20th-century French painter, theorist, writer, critic and poet, who along with Albert Gleizes wrote the first theoretical work on Cubism. His earliest works, from 1 ...

and

Albert Gleizes Albert Gleizes (; 8 December 1881 – 23 June 1953) was a French artist, theoretician, philosopher, a self-proclaimed founder of Cubism and an influence on the School of Paris. Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger wrote the first major treatise on ...

when they published ''Du Cubisme''. In 1921 he had an exhibition abroad for the first time (the exhibition of the Dutch artistic group De Branding with

Kurt Schwitters Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) was a German artist who was born in Hanover, Germany. Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including dadaism, constructivism, surrealism, poetry, sound, pain ...

and Fokko Mees). In 1925 he became a member of Contemporary Art (Kunst van Heden). He is mentioned by name in Paul Van Ostaijen's poem 'Huldegedicht aan Singer'.https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/osta002gedi02_01/osta002gedi02_01_0103.php He travelled to

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

for the first time in 1951. He stayed in the city of

Kamina Kamina is the capital city of Haut-Lomami Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Transport Kamina is known as an important railway node; three lines of the DRC railways run from Kamina toward the north, west, and south-east. The ...

where his son Mark worked as a doctor. The journey was a revelation for him. He translated his impressions of African women into colorful

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

es. The African paintings of Jespers are not genre scenes but they present a greater vision of Africa. From the mysterious gazes and the faces of the Swimmers painted in

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...

in 1927 and the Congolese women of the fifties the same idealised vision of the untouchable and enigmatic African woman emerges. He also used the

verre églomisé ''Verre églomisé'' is a French term referring to the process of applying both a design and gilding onto the rear face of glass to produce a mirror finish. The name is derived from the 18th-century French decorator and art-dealer Jean-Baptist ...

technique.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jespers, Floris 1889 births 1965 deaths Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp) alumni 20th-century Belgian painters People from Borgerhout