Geo Verbanck | |
|---|---|
 Geo Verbanck 1910 | |
| Born | George Leopold Verbanck 28 February 1881 Ghent, Belgium |
| Died | 12 December 1961 (aged 80) Aartselaar, Belgium |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Education | Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Ghent, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Brussels (Belgium) |
| Known for | Sculptor, medalist |
| Style | figurative art |
| Movement | symbolism, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, realism |
Geo (Georges) Verbanck (28 February 1881 – 12 December 1961) was a Belgian sculptor and medalist.
Born in the city of Ghent (Flanders), Belgium, Verbanck spent his childhood in the care of a foster family at the countryside in Laarne. At the age of 14, he moved back to Ghent as he had to make a living.
He was appointed as an apprentice in the studio of Petrus Pauwels-D’Hondt, a sculptor and art-cabinetmaker who specialized in period pieces and church furniture. Here he acquired the first techniques of fine art wood carving. [1]
In 1896, Verbanck moved to another workplace, this time of the renowned sculptor Aloïs de Beule, who ran a studio which produced a broad range of artwork such as crucifixes, Stations of the Cross, allegorical statues, steles and busts.
Not only Geo Verbanck, but also his fellow apprentices Leon Sarteel and Oscar Sinia, acquired in this studio the skills of making artwork using different materials. Their craftsmanship allowed them to become esteemed sculptors afterwards. [2]
De Beule advised Verbanck to enroll in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, where he attended from 1898 until 1904. Amongst his teachers were Jean Delvin who was well known for his history of art courses, and Louis Van Biesbroeck, who taught him how to sculpt art models. From 1905 till 1906, he attended classes by Charles van der Stappen at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Brussels. His teachers influenced his artistic development in becoming a sculptor with a distinctive classical style. [3]
In 1909, he participated in the "Prize of Rome", the national Belgian contest for young sculptors. After excelling in the three preliminary assignments, he was awarded the second prize in the final assignment for his statue Orpheus. [4]
Verbanck became more noted by participating in exhibitions and salons in his home country and abroad. [5]
In 1912, he was officially commissioned to design the Monument in honour of the Van Eyck brothers Hubert and Jan in Ghent, together with the architect Valentin Vaerwyck, who was in charge of the architectural part. The brothers Van Eyck were the medieval painters of the Ghent altarpiece Adoration of the Mystic Lamb .With great interest, the internationally financed monument was inaugurated by King Albert on 9 August 1913 at the World's Fair. It was highly esteemed by the public, and was Verbanck's final breakthrough as an artist. [6]
Geo Verbanck was awarded numerous public commissions that included monuments, war memorials and decorations for buildings. [7] His private commissions consisted mainly of funeral monuments, portrait busts and medallions and medals. In his free works of art the emotions of women [8] and children, and the family as a whole, were his favorite themes. [9]
Throughout his career Verbanck shared his technical knowledge and artistic vision with others. From 1911 until 1927, he taught at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Dendermonde. In 1924 he was also appointed professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent where he taught until his retirement in 1941. His work was also part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics. [10] From 1935 to 1937, he also assumed the interim management of the academy. [9]
Many artists had the opportunity to develop their sculpting skills in his atelier in Ghent.
When he retired in 1941, Verbanck was awarded the Belgian state prize "Great prize of plastic arts" for his entire oeuvre.
Verbanck remained active as a sculptor until his death in 1961.
Verbanck is considered one of the last classical sculptors in Belgium. [11] Thanks to his broad crafts education he thoroughly mastered working with all kinds of materials:bronze, bluestone, marble, Euville (limestone), ivory and various types of wood. His education at the academies in Ghent and Brussels allowed him to develop his own delicate figurative language in which a classical purity, harmony and intuitive feeling of the right dimension prevailed. [12] While his work was originally influenced by the curved lines of Art Nouveau, during the interwar period it would gradually evolve into a more linear and angular Art Deco expression. After the Second World War, his work continued to evolve towards a softer round design. [13]
The following were his war memorial commissions. [14]
In Ghent, Verbanck realized five memorials after World War I in 1920 (3), 1922, 1923, and one after World War II in 1955.
Verbanck believed in the harmonious complementarity between sculpture and architecture. He was a member of the art association "l'Art Monumental" and other societies.
Leading architects, e.g. Valentin Vaerwyck collaborated with Verbanck to integrate sculpture in the buildings they designed.
Verbanck had a solid reputation for the design of funeral monuments. He covered the whole range of portrait medallions, busts, bas-reliefs and statues. Verbanck's work can be found in Ghent (4 cemeteries, of which the Campo Santo) [16] and the cemeteries of Lokeren, Moerbeke, Elsene and Laken. [17]
Verbanck was a well-known portraitist. In many busts, medallions and plaques he achieved an intense expressivity with a refined psychological dimension. He made portraits of Cyriel Buysse, Jozef De Coene, Jozef Horenbant, Valentin Vaerwyck and Gustave Magnel. The catalogue of 2018 counts up to 135 people being portrayed by Geo Verbanck. [18]
One of the Verbanck's first assignments at the Academy of Ghent was teaching the decorative arts curriculum. He designed amongst others challenge cups in silver, jewellery/memory boxes in wood, little wooden clocks, bookends in sandstone and a bronze radiator cap for luxury cars. [19]
There also was a remarkable collaboration during the interwar period with the Kortrijkse Kunstwerkstede Gebroeders De Coene, a furniture and interior design company, for whom he designed a number of bronze decorative objects such as furniture decoration, door plates and interior decoration. [20]
The Geo Verbanck medal catalogue contains 34 art medals. The influence of Art Nouveau and Art Deco is clearly visible in the medals. [21] He also designed 3 emergency coins for the city of Ghent during WW1. [22]
Ghent is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the province of East Flanders, and the third largest in the country, after Brussels and Antwerp. It is a port and university city.
East Flanders is a province of Belgium. It borders the Dutch province of Zeeland and the Flemish province of Antwerp, Flemish Brabant, Hainaut and West Flanders. It has an area of 3,007 km2 (1,161 sq mi), divided into six administrative districts containing 60 municipalities, and a population of over 1.57 million as of January 2024. The capital is Ghent, home to the Ghent University and the Port of Ghent.
Lokeren is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders, and belongs to the Waasland, also called Land van Waas, of which it is the second most important city after Sint-Niklaas. The city, located on the river Durme, the Lede, and the E17 motorway, has more than 42,100 inhabitants who are called Lokeraars or Rapenfretters. Because Lokeren is located on the Durme, Lokeren is often called "The Durme City". Horse sausages are officially recognized as a regional product.
Gent-Sint-Pieters railway station is the main railway station in Ghent, East Flanders, Belgium, and the fourth-busiest in Belgium and busiest in Flanders, with 17.65 million passengers a year. The station is operated by the National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB).
Sint-Gillis-bij-Dendermonde is a part of the municipality of Dendermonde in the Denderstreek in East Flanders in Belgium, a typical agricultural village in the Dendervallei near the junction of the railroads to Ghent, Mechelen and Brussels. It was formerly known as Zwijveke.
Lucas Faydherbe was a Flemish sculptor and architect who played a major role in the development of the High Baroque in the Southern Netherlands.
Cyriel Paul Coupé (1918–1998) was a Belgian diocesan priest, teacher, writer and poet, also known by the pseudonym Anton van Wilderode.
The Church of St. James on Coudenberg is a Catholic church on the historic Place Royale/Koningsplein, in the Royal Quarter of Brussels, Belgium. It is dedicated to Saint James, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus.
Jules Lagae was a Belgian sculptor and medallist, born in Roeselare.
Saint Bavo's Cathedral, also known as Sint-Baafs Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Ghent, Belgium. The 89-metre-tall (292 ft) Gothic building is the seat of the Diocese of Ghent and is named for Saint Bavo of Ghent. It contains the well-known Ghent Altarpiece, also called the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.
Mattheus van Beveren was a Flemish sculptor and medalist who is mainly known for his monumental Baroque church sculptures and small wood and ivory sculptures. He also made medals and die designs for the Antwerp Mint.
Aloïs De Beule was a Belgian sculptor.
Antoon Stillemans was for 26 years the twenty-fourth bishop of Ghent, in Belgium.
The Campo Santo of Ghent, Belgium, is a famous Roman Catholic public burial ground in Sint-Amandsberg. The Campo Santo has been declared a historical monument by the government. This cemetery is located in the district of Dampoort.
Hendrik Albertus van den Eijnde or van den Eynde was a Dutch sculptor. His work was part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
Willem Kerricx or Willem Kerricx the Elder was a Flemish sculptor active in Antwerp. His works comprise mostly sculptured church furniture, individual sculptures, both portrait busts as well as statues of saints for churches and funerary monuments. His style shows the transition from the highly dramatic expressiveness of the Antwerp late Baroque towards a more gracious and elegant Rococo style. He operated a large workshop in Antwerp which was continued by his son into the middle of the 18th century.
Andreas Johannes Ludovicus baron van den Bogaerde van Terbrugge was a Dutch nobleman, politician, author and art collector. He served as Governor of North Brabant between 1830 and 1842.
Willem Ignatius Kerricx was a Flemish sculptor, painter, draftsman, architect, engineer, playwright and author active in Antwerp in the first half of the 18th century. His sculptural works comprise mostly sculptured church furniture, individual sculptures, mainly statues of saints for churches and a few funerary monuments. His sculptural style is typical for the late Flemish Baroque while he shows a preference for Classicism in his architectural projects. He took over the large family sculpture workshop in Antwerp. As a painter he created both history paintings for churches and still lifes. He was also employed as an architect and engineer, mainly on reconstruction projects. In his youth, he composed a number of comedies and tragedies for the Antwerp theatre.
Charles Auguste Fraikin was a Belgian neoclassical sculptor.
Gerardus Cornelius (Sjra) Schoffelen is a Dutch sculptor.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
