Irène Hamoir (25 July 1906 – 17 May 1994) was a Belgian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, the leading female member of the Belgian

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

movement. Her poetry was published under the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Irine, and she appeared as Lorrie in the writings of her husband,

Louis Scutenaire Louis Scutenaire (29 June 1905 – 15 August 1987) was a Belgian French-language poet, anarchist, surrealist and civil servant. Born Jean Émile Louis Scutenaire in Ollignies, he died in Brussels. Life Louis Scutenaire is chiefly remembered as ...

, and the works of

René Magritte René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgium, Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature ...

Biography

Born in

Saint-Gilles, Belgium ( French, ) or ( Dutch, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the southern part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Anderlecht, Forest and Ixelles. In common with all of Brus ...

into a family with ties to the

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

, she worked as a secretary. As an adolescent, Hamoir was already militant in the Young Socialist Guards. Then in 1928, she met the Brussels surrealists (she would later portray them in rough outline as hooligans in her novel ''Boulevard Jacqmain''

953 Year 953 ( CMLIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Battle of Marash: Emir Sayf al-Dawla marches north into the Byzantine Empire and ravages the countryside of Malatya ...

reprinted in 1996 by the Éditions Devillez). She wrote her first poem, ''Métallique'' in 1925. At that time she first became involved with the burgeoning Belgian surrealist group forming around artists such as Magritte, , Scutenaire, Marcel Mariën, and Paul Nougé. She married Louis Scutenaire in 1930. Her poems and tales, highly fantastical, were first collected in 1949 in a thin volume with a print run of 200 copies under the pseudonym Irine; in 1976, the collection ''Corne de brune'' featured her contributions to periodicals and collective works, as well as the prefaces she wrote for her friends: this volume would enable one to better appreciate her humor. After Scutenaire's death in 1987, she published her recollections of their life together as ''Ma vie avec Scut''. She died in

Watermael-Boitsfort Watermael-Boitsfort (French language, French, ) or Watermaal-Bosvoorde (Dutch language, Dutch, ; ), often simply called Boitsfort in French or Bosvoorde in Dutch, is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipal ...

in 1994. Irène Harmoir legated the Belgium Museum of Fine Art with surrealistic works, such as these by Marc.

Selected works

Poetry

* ''Œuvre poétique (1930–1945)'', ublished under the pen name Irine Saint-Generou près Saint Julien de Voventes: Maître François, 1949. * ''Ithos'', ublished anonymously ill. Claudine Jamagne. Leyden: 1971. * ''L'Orichalcienne.'' La Louvière: Daily Bul, 1972. * ''Corne de brune (1925–1976)'', ills René Magritte, Rachel Baes, Danielle, Jane Graverol & Claudine Jamagne. Brussels: Isy Brachot et Tom Gutt, 1976. * ''Le Comparse en fleurs et des aigrelettes.'' Paris: Éditions de l'Orycte, 1977.

Prose

* ''La Cuve infernale.'' Brussels: Editions Lumière, 1944. * ''Boulevard Jacqmain.'' reprinted Brussels: Didier Devillez, 1996. * ''La Cuve infernale, Nouvelles, édition augmentée.'' Brussels: Editions Brassa, 1987. * ''Question à une tourterelle turque.'' Brussels: 1989. * ''Croquis de rue.'' Bassac: Plein Chant, 1992.

References

Sources

* Dewandeleer, Cécile, "HAMOIR, Irène..." in E. Gubin, C. Jacques, V. Piette & J. Puissant (eds), ''Dictionnaire des femmes belges: XIX^e et XX^e siècles.'' Bruxelles: Éditions Racine, 2006.

External links

* * Magritte : ''Irène Hamoir'', 1936 (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium)

* Magritte : ''Irène Hamoir'', 1948 (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamoir, Irene 1906 births 1994 deaths People from Saint-Gilles, Belgium Belgian poets in French Women surrealist artists Belgian surrealist writers Belgian surrealist artists Belgian women poets 20th-century Belgian women writers 20th-century Belgian poets