The Sculpture of George Minne

Andrea Vagianos preoccupation,s with them - namely those of ma­ In his study of the artistic circles established at ternity, adolescence, and religion - he was funda­ the turn of the century in the rural community of mentally concerned with the quintessential Symbol­ Laethem-St.Martin, a small town outside of Ghent, ist notion of exploring the inner, spiritual world of Paul Haesaerts concludes his discussion of the Bel­ the soul, and abandoning that of the material; thus gian Symbolist artist George Minne (1866-1941) his figures are depicted in states of profound self­ with a curious evaluation ofthe man's life and work. absorption of grief, pain, or introspection. Although He asserts that Minne does not classify as an artist later in life a sincere religiosity altered the Symbolist in the strict sense of the term, because Minne was nature of his art, the work for which he is most well­ not primarily impressed by the power of the expres­ known[3] is not only Symbolist in underlying theme, sion of forms - by their subtlety or majesty[1]. In­ but in its incorporation of certain stock Symbolist stead, Haesaerts claims that due to his meditative motifs as well, for example: auras of silence; long, temperament, Minne can best be described as: flowing hair; double or mirror images; and mysteri­ . .. un penseur qui cherche et parvient a ous landscapes. The aim of this discussion is to shed traduire les r&mltats de ses meditations light on the meaning of Minne's sculptural work, in en sujets, en symboles, en lignes et en the hopes of re-establishing the important, if quiet, place he holds in the history of Belgian Symbolism. volumes ... L'histoire de son oeuvre n'est pas celle d'une technique... mais bien Originating in France in the 1880s, Symbolism l'histoire d'une pensee... ses recherches as an art movement emerged in direct connection nous m

Minne's constant interest in line and contour. The mother is shown experiencing the tremendous grief of the death of her child, and she expresses her sor­ row physically by collapsing into a contraction. The expressive power of this piece invites the question of whether it is essentially Symbolist or Ex­ pressionist in character. Andre de Ridder, a Belgian art critic and contemporary of Minne, drew atten­ tion to the expressive aspect of this and others of his early works, commenting that Minne's art was: "ne point imitatif ou decoratif mais profondement expressif."[18] He called Minne's works archetypes because of the profound expressive force of his fig­ uresand the striking clarity and precision of his line. This is an appropriate description because it captures the universality of the emotions Minne's figures display. In Mere pleurant son enfant mort, while the expressive, even Expressionist, aspect of the work is undeniable, the Symbolist element is equally strong. The internalization of the emotional pain - that is, its transferral to the physical where the body contracts in order to cope with the pro­ found grief - is essentially Symbolist in character. In a work of the same subject, the drawing La Mere eploree of 1890, a mother is shown confronted with the reality of the death of her child. Hunched over in grief, the three figures - mother, infant, and daugh­ Figure 1: La Mere eploree, pencil, 39 x 29 cm., ter - are arranged in an asymmetrical yet rhythmic 1890. composition where the gesture of forward motion suggests a keening ritual. Here Minne convincingly portrays with cruel realism a dead infant's wan and was one of Brussels' major cultural events, for the gaunt appearance. The figures are depicted in a days and nights of the weeks of its duration were more overtly Symbolist posture than the Mere pleu­ filled with public lectures and performances of mod­ rant son enfant mort, since the grief-stricken mother ern music. Altogether one hundred and twenty-six and daughter turn into themselves both emotionally foreign artists exhibited with Les XX during its ten and physically to express their sorrow. year existence, only three of whom became mem­ In 1890 Minne exhibited for the first time with bers: Jan Toorop in 1885, August Rodin in 1889, Les XX, and these two works were among those and Paul Signac in 1891. With Les XX, Brussels he displayed. Founded in 1884 as a place where came to be a leading centre for European modern those artists who were unaccepted by the conven­ art, and its exhibitions had an important status tional salons could exhibit, and the same year as within Europe's avant-game circles. At its incep­ the foundation of La Societe des Indipendants in tion Symbolism was not yet a dominant movement, Paris, Les XX was committed to the free exchange but by the 1890s it had become the most significant of ideas across the borders within Europe. Con­ movement associated with the group. sisting of twenty members who exhibited regularly The work of those artists who exhibited with Les with the group, and an executive of four people who XX, particularly that of the Symbolists, was per­ were responsible for the organization of their an,. ceived by the more traditional critics as unintelli­ nual exhibits, which usually took place in Febru­ gible and inunoral. In the journal La Nation one ary or March, many artists of other countries and critic asked why contemporary artists felt "that one representative of various contemporary movements, must be incomprehensible to the masses in order to were invited to exhibit with them. Thus Realism, say something new?"[19] The revolutionary aspect Impressionism, Neo-Impressionism, Symbolism, and of Symbolist art was often· linked to the socialist the decorative arts were brought to the attention aims of Maus and Picard, and this resulted in re­ of the Belgian public. Les XX's annual exhibition sistance to the group on both political and artistic 56 Canadian Journal of Netherlandic Studies grounds. Maus himself wrote of this situation: "Le 1890 defending Minne's work and mocking the igno­ Salon des XX n'est autre qu'un episode de la grande rance of those who disliked it. He wrote of Minne: bataille periodique des idees neuves contre la rou­ "Son art est avant tout un art de suggestion, mais tine, bataille invariablment gagnee par celles-Ia con­ l'impression qu'il fait naitre est surtout generale. Ce tre celle-ci."[20] In an article on Symbolism in Bel­ n'est pas l'histoire de tel ou tel sentiment, ni de tel gium, Albert Alhadeff describes how one critic wrote episode d'une vie quelconque meme, non, c'est la that Les XX should place a sign at its doors warning legende de la douleur a travers les temps ... "[24] In those who enter of what would follow. He, that is addition, a review of Les XX's exhibit that year in the critic, postulated that the sign would read: "Fol­ La Wallonie wrote of Minne: low me and meet those who gnash their teeth at the mere thought that they could be tied down by by­ Cette annee cependant un revolution­ naire sculpteur gantois M. George Minne, gone rules, or ensnared in formulas of old ... Seeking presque ignore avant l'exposition des XX, the new, they broach the ugly. No truth, coarseness, surgit comme un talent superieur et des or vile deed shall deter them. Fearless, they dare all ... Oh you who enter, abandon all hope." An plus inreressants. Dans son oeuvre profondement etudiee, obvious parody of Dante's Inferno, these thoughts eminemment personnelle et remarquable­ are significant because, as Alhadeff continues: ment rendue regne une obsedance de For the average visitor, to visit Les XX douleur et de tristesse ou semble serev~Her was to visit hell on earth. Here bewildered Ie but de synthetiser les formes pour en and harried, our bon bourgeois - treading, obtenir des effets absolus. M. Minne arrive as it were, on Virgil's trail - would suf­ par ce moyen a des oeuvres d'un tres grand fer unspeakable encounters. He would be sentiment et d'une puissante eloquence. asked questions we are still asked today, Finally, even in Paris in the Mercure de France questions on the nature of art. Les XX, Pierre Olin wrote of La mere eploree: " •.. toute la iIi effect, were redefining the word 'beau­ tiful'. And in its quest, as the sign had douleur maternelle, et pour la petite Ie desespoir in­ conscient d'une chose pas encore tres bien comprise, said, it would pursue all - even the ugly, sont fixes sur ce frele papier. Certes, ceux qui af­ the coarse, and the odious. After all, time firmerent qu'en Minne ils voyaient apparaitre l'un had let it be known that yesterday's val­ des plus emotionnants artistes de l'epoque."[26] ues no longer bore yesteryear's authority. Thus, despite criticism from the conventional Les XX, it must be stressed, was not for everyone. .. to visit Les XX was to ac­ artistic circles of the day, Minne received confir­ knowledge the uncertain nature of art ... mation in both France and Belgium of the unique­ ness and power of his work. His exposure to Les One could no longer count on the past to XX was an important event in his career, because clarify the present ... In short, the gener­ through the group he was able to meet other artists ation of 1890 knew that things could and would not stay as they were... Thus, we like himself who were exploring the limits of what must interpret their truculence before Ie they could express pictorially and sculpturally, and experienced what the general public would accept. cercle des vingts as a last-ditch stand to As a result of exhibiting with them, Minne's work 'stop the wheel of progress'. became known across Europe and was admired by Recognizing the more conservative views of many people as far away as Gustav Klimt in Vienna, Karl contemporary art critics, it is not surprising that Ernst Osthaus in Germany, and numerous artists Minne's work was not appreciated by everyone; in and art lovers in France and elsewhere. Les XX fact, Maus noted that the two works Minne ex­ offered Minne a network of contemporary avant­ hibited at Les XX in 1890 were described as "foe­ garde artists with whom he could share and ex­ tus drolatiques" .[22] Nevertheless, among Symbolist change ideas, and feel accepted in his own right. sympathizers Minne's work was positively reviewed This was crucial following the 1890 exhibit, because by those who recognized the powerful expression of Minne had allowed the criticisms of his art to af­ his art. Emile Verhaeren wrote of the spirit of La fect his confidence, and consequently his health and mere eploree: "It is essential sorrow, sadness be­ work. Seeing him in such a weakened state, his fa­ yond all reasoning, anguish before any sin - in ther once more asked hhu to sive up his folly - that a word, the elemental human soul."[23] In L'Art is, his artistic career - and join his firm as an ar­ Moderne, Gregoire LeRoy published an article in chitect. Minne accepted this offer fOf a brief time, Canadian Journal of Netherlandic Studies 57 but quickly became discontent with the work and firm classical foundations who was also open to new abandoned the company. In 1891 he left his family ideas. According to Pudles, Van der Stappen called and went to Paris seeking guidance in his art from his pupil "the sculptor of gesture" .[29] Rodin, whom he had met through Les XX. Hav­ During the years of his studies in Brussels, as he ing spent some time working in Brussels early in his re-examined his drawing ability, Minne discovered career, Rodin maintained his Belgian ties through­ the motif of his famous kneeling adolescent. Hae­ out his lifetime and joined Les XX in 1889. After saerts documents how Minne became intrigued by viewing a selection of photographs of Minne's works, this form while walking in a forest, where he saw: Rodin encouraged him to ignore the criticism he had / received and stay true to himself and his own vision; un adolescent el~ce et reveur de 14 ans he advised Minne not to allow others to instruct him, a 15 ans. Minne est impressionne par les but to follow his own 'voice'. On the basis of what he formes non encore entierement developpees wrote in February, 1918 in Les arts frangais one can de ce jeune garc;on qui n'est plus un enfant obtain a sense of the kind of counsel Rodin would et pas encore un homme, par 180 beaute frele have given Minne: de cet etre venu recemment a 180 vie et en qui se fait Ie travail de 180 maturation.[30] De 180 patience! Ne comptez pas sur l'inspiration. Elle n'existe pas. Les seules Inspired by this idea of a young figure undergo­ qualites de l'artiste sont: sagesse, atten­ ing the process of maturation, in 1897 Minne cre­ tion, sincerite, volonre. Accomplissez votre ated his sculpture The Relic Bearer - a figure of a besogne comme d'honnetes ouvriers. kneeling youth carrying a square and undistinguish­ Soyez vrais, jeunes gens... L'art ne able block. The boy's body is long and attenuated, commence qu'avec 180 verite inrerieure. Que and his expression one of humility and introspec­ toutes vos formes, toutes vos couleurs, tion. Gazing downward and seemingly unfocussed, traduisent des sentiments ... N'hesitez ja­ the boy appears to be lost in his own thoughts and mais a exprimer ce que vous sentez, meme weighed down by the burden of the block he carries. quand vous vous trouvez en opposition Haesaerts interprets this block as a symbol for the avec les idees rec;ues. Peut-etre ne serez weight of the boy's destiny,[31] and comments on vous pas compris tout d'abord. Mais ne the silence communicated by this figure who seems craignez pas de rester seuI. Des amis vien­ absorbed in the task he silently and solemnly fulfills. dront bientot a vous! car ce qui est pro­ The work is exemplary of what Maeterlinck named fondement vrai pour un homme l'est pour Minne's "static statuary" , and was displayed at the tous.[27] 1898 exhibition of La Libre EstMtique. This organi­ zation differed from its predecessor Les XX, in that Had it not been for Rodin's supportive remarks, in seeking to abolish all rivalries among artists it did Minne might have stopped sculpting that year. In­ not maintain a constant membership, but rather in­ stead he returned to Belgium to find that he, along vited different artists to exhibit each year. Minne's with Paul Signac, had been elected a member of Les works shown at the 1898 La Libre EstMtique sa­ XX. Feeling more secure in himself and his aesthetic lon, including The Relic Bearer, were well-received; goals, he resumed his work and was married the fol­ Maus made particularly laudatory comments, writ­ lowing year. ing: "Une vie plus reelle, plus humaine, anime a On the completion of the illustrations that had present Ie muscle ou Ie vetement sans que l'artiste been commissioned from him by Maeterlinck and ait rien concede de sa vision particuliere. Devant ce Verhaeren, Minne moved to Brussels in 1895. He sur accomplissement, Ie succes fut presque unanime had decided at the age of thirty that he needed dans Ie public, si hostile a naguere."[32] to improve his drawing technique, and enrolled Having gained acknowledgement for his distinc­ at the Brussels Art Academy. There he studied tive style, Minne explored the motif of the kneel­ with the artist Charles van der Stappen, who was ing figure further, and his sketchbooks are filled an instructor described by his students as "intelli­ with various renditions of this form. In 1898 Minne gent et liberal" .[28] Van der Stappen was associated sculpted his Kneeling Youth and began to design his with the Decadent movement and as such was in­ famous Fountain. He rendered the kneeling adoles­ volved with the Belgian avant-garde; however, he cent in both bronze and marble, and once again uti­ was also comfortable with classicism, and an inter­ lized the elongated figure of a male youth to depict a esting blend of the two is evident in his art. Thus posture that would convey a mood of contemplation Minne was taught at this time by someone with and introspection. The folded arms and tilted head 58 Canadian Journal of Netherlandic Studies

Youth, set equal distances apart around a central space. The work was called the "Narcissus foun­ tain" by the Flemish poet and friend of Minne, Karel van de Woestijne,[35] and the figures have often been described as Gothic in conception be­ cause they recall the serpentine forms of the jamb figures of Gothic sculpture. Similarly, in his work Three Holy Women of 1896, also called Women at the Tomb, strong affinities to Gothic sculpture are notable, especially ta the work of Claus Sluter. Ac­ cording to Pudles, Maeterlinck explained Minne's rather frequent depiction of these figures as an un­ conscious sympathy for Sluter's PleurantB[36], but it is difficult to determine whether in fact Minne had seen these sculptures.[37] Pudles writes of Minne's Three Holy Women: "Covered from head to foot, closed in posture, vision directed inward, each fig­ ure appears isolated, self-absorbed, and introverted. Despite their similarity and their proximity, each fig­ ure is distinctly alone." [38] She believes that this work exemplifies Minne's interest in portraying re­ peated figures, often identical in form, isolated in their own private worlds of sensation and introspec­ tion. She observes: "It seems curious that a man who was described as solitary, silent, introverted, and closed would have obsessively created figures accompanied by identical, nearly identical, or mir­ ror images of themselves." [39] That this was an ob­ session for Minne may be an exaggeration, but his obvious tendency to render multiple figures is. note­ worthy nonetheless, and was perhaps meant to sug­ gest a solidarity among men in this temporal and fleeting world. Figure 2: Mere Pleurant son enfant mort, Ina very interesting'atticle investigating the h,~onze" lleight 45.5 em., 1886. meaning of The Fountain of Kneeling Youths, Udo Kultermann explores the possible significance of the kneeling pose. Noting that in the history of art a eloquently suggest the boy's silent meditation, and kneeling figure can mean either adoration or sub­ by revealing the figure absorbed in the contempla­ ordination, he compares Minne's figures with other tion of himself, possibly in relation to the external contemporary and similar works, including Rodin's reality in which he lives, the work poignantly illus­ Expressionist sculpture The Prodigal Son of 1889, trates Symbolist ideas. Klimt's later painting The Kiss of 1911, and Beard­ In his preparatory sketches for his, Fountain of sley's Je te baise from his Salome illustrations. Kul­ Kneeling Youths, Minne explored various poses be­ termann writes of a sense of fragility and vulnerabil­ fore returning to his kneeling adolescent. In some ity evident in each version of the kneeling pose, and of these, the figures hold hands and stand with one is particularly intrigued by the connection between leg advanced so that they appear to move about Klimt and Minne; he perceives .the use of the kneel­ the circumference of the circle; in others, they kneel ing figure in The Ki88 as a symbol of survival, where and extend their right hand upward in a ritualistic the two figures are set at the edge of an abyss. Al­ gesture.[33] The original version of this work was though he reeogn~es the differences between Klimt's completed in 1898 and at Klimt's request exhibited and Minne's works, he feels an analogy exists be­ at the first exhibition of the Vienna Sezession that tween: year.[34] The work consists of five identical kneeling adolescent boys in the same pose as the Kneeling the ecstatic lesture of thl! kneeling figures Canadian Journal of Netherlandic Studies 59

of five equally conceived bodies as the power of growth with all the frailty and vulnerability, the self-reflection and the anonymity; youth as the carefully to be ex­ perienced and carefully to be treated phase of life seen in the larger context of na­ ture.[41]

This is an enticing inte~pretation of the work, and follows Haesaerts description of Minne's attraction to the young, inexpelienced form of the adolescent body; despite the improbability of Kultermann's be­ lief that these figures might melt into oblivion ifthey fall into the pool, his final conclusion is credible. Other interpretations of Minne's Fountain stress different aspects of the work. In her analysis, Pudles emphasizes the repetition of the five identical fig­ ures as demonstrating their transcendence of time and place.[42] She compares the work to Rodin's Burghers of Calais of 1889, arguing that whereas in The Fountain the figures are self-absorbed and concerned with their own introspection, turned in­ ward instead of outward, the Burghers invite the viewer into their story and experience. In rela­ tion to this idea, van de Woestijne's observation of the narcissistic implications of the work becomes applicable. Narcissus was a popular mythologi­ cal figure among the Symbolists because he pre­ sented, according to Robert Schmutzler: "a paragon of self-contemplation and introversion... his self­ absorption reflects their subjective, inward-turning attitude" .[43] In Minne's Fountain all five identical figures are lost in themselves and their own private Figure 9: Kneeling youth, plaster, height 82cm., feelings. They stare into the pool of water in what 1898. may appear at first glance to be a 'Narcissistic' fash­ ion, in that one may interpret them to be staring at and kneeling as an expressive visualization their own reflections; however, unlike Narcissus, who of inner attitudes, attitudes which have to was mesmirized by his own image, Minne's boys ac­ do with the reality of the world. Klimt's tually stare unattentively into the water. The con­ and Minne's kneeling figures are both at trast Pudles notes between Rodin's Burghers and the edge of an always present danger, the Minne's Fountain is well-founded: Minne's youths abyss of falling down into oblivion and the are rendered so that the spiritual world within them union of one being to other beings is seen is of more significance than the physical world of as a means of salvation.[40] their bodies and location, while Rodin's Burghers display their fear and anguish to the public. It In Kultermann's interpretation, the fountain on is possible that this difference in arrangement may which all five figures are focussed is the imminent simply be due to the fact that Rodin's work was danger facing the youths, and by supporting one commissioned as a public monument, but regard,. another with their presence they avoid succumbing less, the contrast between the works remains. to the threat of falling into the fountain, 'a pool of In his Fountain of Kneeling Youths Minne's com­ oblivion'. Taking this idea one step further, Kulter­ bination of the kneeling pose and the repeated fig­ mann concludes that the work stands as: ure creates a powerful statement that beautifully The symbol of youth in her dynamic articulates a Symbolist notion. The replication of comprehensiveness, the still elegiac mood the same figure recalls the idea of mirror images so 60 Canadian Journal of Netherlandic Studi.es

. prevalent in Symbolist art, which Jeffrey Howe ex­ the first of a series of symbolic works utilizing Hector plains may serve several functions: they may be a as the model for youth, innocence and purity",[48] symbol of consciousness or of the soul, as in Goethe which are the same themes conveyed by Minne's or Kleist; they may represent the relationship be­ Fountain. Unlike the kneeling posture in Charles tween the earthly and spiritual realities; or they may Filiger's painting Prayer of 1889, Bodler's figure symbolize a search for self and/or self-discovery.[44] is placed in a natural setting where his reason for Among the many Symbolist artists who employed praying is more apparent - he thanks God for the mirrored or multiple figures, similarities can be seen beauty of nature and the season of Spring.[49] between the work of Ferdinand Bodler and Minne. Bodler's various renditions of Bector culminated Hodler had developed a theory or philosophy of Par­ in 1893-94 in his f~ous painting The Conse­ allelism which he wanted to communicate through crated One. Bere Ithe message communicated is his art, and which he hoped would be relevant to all the "Promise of Spring, or renewal of energy and humanity. As Sharon Hirsch writes: life" ,[50] and an emphasis is placed on "the associa­ tions between Spring and the beginnings of spiritual It is this notion of harmony through bal­ fulfilment" .[51] Once again, Hector may be inter­ ance that is the basis of all of Bodler's preted as the symbol of youth, since his position in mature work, and which offers the key to front of a growing tree is symbolic of nature and his Symbolist statements of the 1890s. To the season of Spring. The six angels surrounding properly express this notion, Hodler de­ him have spiritual and religious implications, while veloped his theory of Parallelism, a con­ certain pantheistic connotations reminiscent of his cept of art and philosophy of life based on painting Communion with Infinity, are evoked by the premise that all nature and humanity the natural landscape in which the scene is set. are bound by some underlying order. .. As Thus the uses of symbolic repetition and the Hodler explained, "Uniformity as well as kneeling pose were not unique to Minne, but also of diversity exists within human beings. We interest to other contemporary artists. Since it was are different from each other, but we are a time of mutual influences and the free exchange even more alike. What unites us is greater of ideas promoted by groups like Les XX, La Libre and stronger than what divides us." [45] EstMtique, and Le Salon des /ndependants, it is dif­ While Bodler sought to convey a very particular phi­ ficult to determine who influenced whom, but icono­ losophy through his art, Minne was never so vo­ graphic, even symbolic, similarities are undeniable cal or theoretical as to describe his own work in in the work of many artists of this period. Robert such a philosophic context; his artistic experience Goldwater suggests that after visiting Rodin in 1891, was more personal and subjective. Nevertheless, in Minne may have been inspired to use repeated forms 1892 when Minne had exhibited at the first Rose-et­ by The Three Shades which Rodin designed from Croix salon in Paris, a group which was described as his earlier sculpture Adam to be placed above The "de tendance idealiste et mystique" ,[46] it is prob­ Gates of Hell. [52] Although it is certain that Rodin able that he met Bodler and would have seen his exerted a significant influence on Minne's career, as painting The Disappointed Souls which was exhib­ has been discussed, this is yet another illustration of ited that year. The ideas Minne would have seen how difficult it is to identify what specific influences portrayed in Hodler's work may have encouraged affected which artist; however, the possibility exists Minne to explore the possibilities of multiple fig­ that the work of Hodler and Rodin may have had ures further in his own art. In The Disappointed an impact on or even inspired Minne's designs. Souls Bodler presents five older men seated in an To return to Minne's Fountain of Kneeling outdoor landscape, weighed down by the burden of Youths, as already noted the five figures are set apart life. As Hirsh describes, the painting represents "the from the world by their pose and position, which old man as symbol of disenchantment with life, arid suggest that each figure is in a state of profound in­ dejected acceptance of an inescapable death."[47] trospection. The kneeling pose is ambiguous as a Later in 1892, Bodler began a more optimistic se­ religious gesture of adoration or subordination, but ries of paintings based on sketches of his young son demonstrates a sense of humility in the youths. The Bector, which may also have been of influence on choice of a fountain as the subject may be signifi­ Minne. Bodler became intrigued by the kneeling cant as an inference of libation or ablution, or may posture, and painted a series of Adoration pictures signify water as the source of life, thereby convey­ in which Hector was shown kneeling in a landscape. ing an idea analogous to Hodler's use of spring and Birsh comments that the "Adoration of 1892 was ... nature. An aura of silence is created through the Canadian Journal of Netherlandic Studies 61

congregated figures, and the rhythm established by France: "Les figures bronzes elancees, amlnCles their presence is accentuated in the piece by the et un peu anguleuses, revelent l'ardeur mystique, empty space separating them. Their long, silhou­ fievreuses et puissante."[55] Following this exhibit, etted forms reveal Minne's recurrent interest in line, having finally achieved fame and recognition within which led Schmutzler, who is particularly concerned the avant-garde circles of Austria, France and Ger­ with the ornamental aspect of The Fountain, to re­ many, as well as his native Belgium, Minne decided mark that the work is distinctively Art Nouveau and in May of that year to retire to the small commu­ probably was of influence on Jan Toorop.[53] nity outside of Ghent, .Laethem-St.Martin. Once Regardless of the possible significance of these there he became the priving spiritual force of the stylistic features, what is most interesting about so-called Premier Groupe of artists working in the this piece is that it is an individual expression of town, which very soon became an artists' colony. the artist that elicits subjective responses from its He began to work exclusively from nature, since he viewers, in keeping with Symbolist aims. The in­ felt he had lost touch with natural forms, and ex­ trospective quality of the figures who contemplate ecuted some works in a Realist style akin to that themselves and probably their relationship to an­ of Constantin Meunier - a slightly older and well­ other, spiritual reality outside the material, proves respected Belgian artist who was known and ad­ The Fountain to be fundamentally Symbolist in con­ mired through-out Europe, and had exhibited with ception, with each of its features contributing to Les XX, La Libre Esthetique, and La Societe Libre its overall affect: the adolescent figure, his intro­ des Beauz-ArtB. Meunier created Realist works of spection, his five-fold repetition, the presence of the the common labourer in a manner reminiscent of fountain and the connotations of water, the narcis­ Millet, blending elements of the heroic or monumen­ sistic implications, the aura of silence, and the em­ tal with the laborious and banal. He was often cited phasis on line. The utilization of male adolescents by socialist writers like Verhaeren as the artist who in a kneeling posture can best be explained as the rendered the plight of the common man, although form which Minne believed most aptly and simply his interest in subjects of factory life and life on expressed the frailty and self-absorption he sought to the land never led Meunier to take part in the radi­ convey. To attempt to decipher each aspect of this cal socialist movement. One of Minne's few Realist or any Symbolist work is to negate its actual pur­ sculptures similar to Meunier's work is his Ma~on pose of allusion rather than description, since the of 1897; this figure reveals Minne's continued inter­ aura presented and created by the work is its most est in line in its accent on the vertical, but is much significant quality. heavier-set than his kneeling adolescents and other The influence of Minne's Fountain of Kneeling contemporarily produced sculptures. Youths was far-reaching. In 1900 a copy of it was In Laethem-St.Martin Minne came to work with commissioned by the German art collector Karl Valerius de Saedeleer, Karel and Gustav van de Ernst Osthaus for the Folkwang Museum in Hagen. Woestijne and Albijn van de Abeele, a group of Henry van de Velde designed the interior of the mu­ people particularly moved by religious - and es­ seum with the intention of incorporating all aspects pecially catholic - themes. As a result of his ex­ of the building into a general schema that would posure to this circle, Minne's work after 1900 dis­ present a synthesis of the arts to the people. He plays greater religious sentiments than Symbolist. believed, as Eugenia Herbert writes, that: "it was In 1902 this Premier Groupe visited the historic ex­ virtually immoral for an artist or craftsman to cre­ hibit in Bruges of Les Primitifs Flamands, De van ate a single piece of art, to be seen and enjoyed by a Eyck a Brueghel, which had a profound affect on minute coterie of men ... [thus] he exhibited rooms each man's art. After this experience Minne chose conceived and executed as harmonious units ... "[54] to return to the medium of drawing and to motifs Consequently, in this particular rendition of Minne's from earlier in his career, transposing them into re­ Fountain the work was shown in a setting that was ligious subjects. The mother and child motif was meant to be harmonious with its style and composi­ the most significant of these, becoming a Pieta as a tion. In this location it proved to be of influence on religious theme, while Minne's solitary male figures numerous young German artists, among them the became various renditions of Christ, and in particu­ sculptor Wilhelm Lehmbruck. lar the so-called Eucharistic Christ. Minne's shift in In 1899 Minne exhibited with twenty-seven the treatment of his iconography has been explained painters and two other sculptors at the Durand­ by Pierre Baudson as an expression of Minne's "im­ Ruel gallery in Paris, and his work was favourably mense besoin de securite, de protection, d'affection reviewed by Andre Fontainas in the Mercure de qui marqua toute son existence." [56] In fact 1900- 62 Canadian Journal 0/ Netherlandic Studies

but spent his time drawing instead. After this long respite, in 1922 he returned to sculpture to cre­ ate a series of rather stylized bathers and mother and child figures: Like his numerous religious draw­ ings, the sculptures of this time lack the expressive and symbolic qualities of his earlier works; unfor­ tunately, though he returned to familiar motifs, he brought no new insights to them. After the war he moved back to LaetheID1St.Martin where he contin­ ued to work until his/death in 1941 at the age of seventy-five. / In summary, during the first fifteen years of his artistic production while working within the three media of sculpture, drawing, and engraving, George Minne sought to convey the fundamental Symbolist idea of transcending the material world for a greater spiritual reality. By rendering figures immersed in their own introspection - whether of grief, pain, or contemplation - Minne attempted to suggest, rather than describe, the concept that through silent meditation one can attain a higher or other spiritual­ ity. His recurrent depictions of the motifs maternity, adolescence and isolation were complemented by the use of certain Symbolist elements like mystic land­ Figure 4: Le Ma~on, oak, height 76 cm., 1897. scapes, double or mirror images, and silence. His use of pure, clean line and elongated forms led to 1914 were years of severe personal crisis for Minne, the description of his work as stylized, Gothic and spent doubting himself and his artistic ability. Many primitive, and the iconography and stylistic treat­ critics noticed this, among them Andre de Ridder ment of his figures at times imply the influence of who wrote in 1930: late Gothic and early Renaissance Northern artists. His peers also had an impact on his art, for he had a De Gothique Minne devient neo-grec ... series of significant relationships during his lifetime Minne recommence ses oeuvres de debut, with various artistic circles: with literary figures like croyant, Ie malheureux, les corriger dans Maeterlinck, LeRoy, and Verhaeren; with Symbol­ dl'ls repliques sans ame. 11 s'expose ainsi ist artists and supporters through the groups of Les au risque de detruire en nous cet ad­ XX and La Libre Esthetique; and with the painters mirable souvenir que nous conservons de l:1t Laethem-St.Martin. In his purest work produced ses premieres figures de piete et de reve.[57] before 1900, his figures enabled him to convey clear, Although ardent proponents of Minne's art, like direct images reflecting a Symbolist aesthetic. Haesaerts and Leo van Puyvelde, describe his later Sensitive to human issues, this reflective and drawings and sculptures as dealing with modern reclusive artist was a significant contributor to Bel­ religious preoccupations, de Ridder rightly com­ gian Symbolism before the movement floundered at ments on the lack of the direct and profound power the turn of the century. He was one of the principal of Minne's early works in these later ones. It is artists to communicate Symbolist ideas through the noteworthy, however, that the weakening of the medium of sculpture, and though influenced by his suggestive aspects of Minne's art and his turn to contemporaries Rodin and Meunier, differed from Catholicism was not uncommon circa 1900, for other them in both style and form. In turn his work proved painters made similar transitions as the Symbolist to be an influence on many young artists, especially movement lost its momentum.[58] Austrian and German - such as Schiele, Kollwitz, From 1912-1914 Minne taught at the Academy and Lehmbruck - despite the fact that until re­ of Ghent, but with the advent of World War I the cent years he has been virtually ignored, and out­ group of artists then working at Laethem-St.Martin side Belgium still remains relatively unknown. As was dispersed,[59] and Minne moved to Wales. Dur­ Theresa Schroeder and Julius Kaplan noted in the ing the years 1914-1921 he did not sculpt at all, catalogue of the exhibit of Symbolism: Europe and Canadian Journal of Netherlandic Studies 63

North America at the End of the Nineteenth Cen­ parents", he later wrote that: "nothing is lost in study: I tury: think I owe much as a painter to the study I carried out as an aspiring architect, of the projections, shadows that an intel­ Minne searched throughout his career for a ligent teacher made me do with meticulous attention apply­ way to portray the sufferings of humanity ing the abstraction of theory and demonstrations on tangible bodies, and proposing to me, in problems to be resolved, spe­ in a stylized but intensely passionate form. cial cases of shadows projected on spheres or other solids. He was deeply involved in Symbolist ideas Later on, it helped me: I could more easily bring together and introduced an expression of spiritual the probable with the impro~able, and I could give a visual life into sculpture that had previously been logic to imaginary elementsJhat I foresaw." From To Myself, reserved for poetry and painting.[60] trans. Mira Jacob and J,anne L. Wasserman, (New York: George Braziller, Inc., 19'86), p. 17; originally published, A This was indeed a significant contribution. soi-meme, Editions Corti, 1979. Thus Haesaerts' observation that Minne's linear figures were rooted in or inspired by his architectural studies, is not unfoWlded. Notes: [11] Lynne Pudles, "The Symbolist Work of George Minne", Art Journal, Summer 1985, pp. 120-21. [1] Paul Haesaerts, Laethem St-Martin (Antwerp: Mercator [12] For a thorough analysis of Minne's illustrations see Al­ Fonds, 1982), p. 118: "D n'est pas quelqu'Wl qui, avant tout, bert Alhadeff's article, "George Minne, Maeterlinck's Fin est impressionne par Ie pouvoir d'expression des formes, par de Siccle illustrator" in Fondation Maurice Maeterlinck An­ leur subtilite, leur arrogance, leur gratuite ou leur majeste." nales, Vol. 12, 1966. [2] Paul Haesaerts, op. cit., p. 119. [13] Alhadeff, op. cit., p. 9. [3] This is in fact an exaggerated description of his notoriety. [14] Legrand, op. cit., p. 153. Until recent years Minne had been relatively unknown, for he faded into obscurity during the 1930s, even prior to his death [15] Susan Canning, "Iconography of Silence", Art8 Maga­ in 1941. zine, 54: 4, December, 1979, p. 170. [4] German Romanticism and the ideas of Richard Wagner, [16] Legrand, op. cit., p. 153. Novalis and the Schlegels, and English literary sources like [17] Alhadeff, op. cit., p. 8. Colerige and Shelley, contributed to the emergence of Sym­ bolism in other European cOWltries. [18] Andre de Ridder, "Lettre de Belgique", Cahier8 d'art, 5:3, 1930, p. 158. [5] Mallarme was one of the driving forces behind the French Symbolist movement, articulating in words what the artists [19] Victor Arnould, "L'Art Nouveau: Les XX", La Nation, would attempt to convey in painting and sculpture: "Nom­ February 21, 1890. Cited and translated in Alhadeff, "The mer Wl object, c'est supprimer les trois quarts de la jouissance Great Awakening: Le Milieu Beige", op. cit., p. 133. du poeme qui est faite du bonheur de deviner peu a. peu; Ie suggerer, voilA Ie reve. C'est Ie parfait usage de ce mystere [20] Maus as cited in Micheline Hanotelle, Rodin et Meunier qui constitue Ie symbole: evoquer petit a. petit Wl objet pour (Paris: Le Temps, 1982), p. 53. montrer Wl etat d'a.me, ou, inversement, choisir Wl object et [21] A.J. Wauters, "AuxXX", La Gazette, February 9,1891. en degager Wl etat d'a.me, par Wle serie de dechiffrements." Cited and translated in Alhadeff, "The Great Awakening: Le Cited by Franco Russoli in "hnages et langages du Symbol­ Milieu Beige", Art8 Magazine, 54: 4, December 1979, p. 132. isme", Le 8ymboli8me en Europe, Paris: Grand Palais, mai­ juillet, 1976; Ezh. Cat., p. 17. [22] Madeleine Octave Maus, Trente Annie8 de la lutte pour l'art, (Bruxelles: Librairie l'Oiseau Bleu, 1926, p. 103. [6] Remy de Gourmont, Le Livre des Masques, 2eme edition, (Paris: Mercure de France, 1921), p. 13. Remy de Gourmont, [23] Emile Verhaeren, cited in translation in Belgian Art cited in translation in Eugenia Herbert's The Artist and So­ 1880-1914 (Brooklyn Museum, April 23 - JWle 29, 1980), p. cial Reform in France and Belgium 1885-1898 (New Haven: 134. Exh. Cat. "C'est la douleur instinctive, de la tristesse Yale University Press, 1961), p. 59. "The only excuse a man en de~a de tout raisonnement, de la peine avant tout faute has for writing is to describe himself, to Wlveil for others the - en Wl mot, c'est l'a.me humaine eIementaire que toute son sort of world that is reilected in his individual mirror; his only oeuvre." Cited in Pierre Baudson, Meunier et Minne (Brux­ justification is to be original; he must say things not yet said elles: Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 9 mai - 6 and say them in a form not yet formulated." juli, 1969), Ezh. Cat., Wlpaginated. [7] Haesaerts, op. cit., p. 87. [24] Gregoire LeRoy cited in George Minne en de K un8t rond 1900. (Gent: Museum voor Schone Kunsten, 18 Sept. - 5 [8] F.C. Legrand, Le Symbolisme en Belgique (Bruxelles: La.­ December), Ezh. Cat. p. 49. conte, 1979), p. 260: "Son art est fait de recueillement, de silence, et de melancholie." [25] A. H. "Les Vingts", La Wallonie, 5: 1892, p. 132. [9] Haesaerts, op. cit., p. 67. [26] Pierre Olin "Les Vingts" , Mercure de France, avril, 1891, p. 238. [10] Like Minne, Odilon Redon had begun his studies in ar­ chitecture when he first moved to Paris, but while he claimed [27] August Rodin, L'art Moderne et quelques a8pects de l'art he began this work "with little faith and only to__ please my d'autTefois, vol. 1, (Paris: Bernheim-JeWle, 1919), p. 50. 64 Canadian Journal 0/ Netherlandic Studiell

[28] Le Groupe deB XX et Bon temps, (Musees Royaux des [56] Pierre Baudson, "Introduction", Meunier et Minne, Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 7 fevrier - 3 avril, 1962), Ezh. Oat., (Musee Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Bruxelles), ezh. p.113. cat., not paginated.

[29] Pudles, 01'. cit., p. 121. [57] de Ridder, 01'. cit., p. 158.

[30] Ha.esa.erts, 01'. cit., p. 107. [58] To give some examples, the french Symbolist painter Maurice Denis was particularly concerned with religious [31] Ibid., p. 88: "Ie poids de sa destiruie" . iconography, and the Dutch painter Jan Toorop also painted [32] Maus, 01'. cit., p. 229. Catholic themes later in his career. [33] For reproductions of these sketches see George Minne en [59] The Premier Groupe ~ existed from 1890-1904, and a de KunBt rond 1900, 18 Sept. - 5 Dec., 1982. Museum voor second orDeuzieme Groupe worked from 1905-1914. / Schone Kunsten, Gent. Ezh. Oat. [50] Theresa Schroeder and Julius Kaplan, Symbolism: Eu- [34] KIimt was then president of the Vienna. secession. rope and North America at the End oJ the Nineteenth Oen­ tury, (California State College Art Gallery, San Bernardino: [35] Karel van de Woestijne in Pudl~, 01'. cit., p. 126. April 27 - June 10, 1980), ezh. cat., p. 39. [36] Pudles, 01'. cit., p. 124. See Minne's illustrations for Ma.eterlinck's Soeur Beatrice, published in 1900, for other renditions of these draped figures. [37] Sluter was of Dutch origin but may have worked in Brus­ sels before he moved to Dijon, where he was employed by PlPliP, the Duke of Burgundy. It is possible that some ex­ amples of his work were available to the public in Brussels by the end of the nineteenth century, and also that Minne may have seen some of his figures when he visited the mu­ seums in Paris. Minne's draped women particularly recall Sluter's most famous work, LeB Pleurants from the tomb of Philip, but these remained in Dijonj unless Minne visited the museum there, he would only have been able to see them in reproduction, if at all.

[38] Pudles, 01'. cit., p. 124. [39] Ibid., p. 125. [40] Udo Kulterma.nn, "The FountairiofYouth, The Folkwang Fountain by George Minne", KonsthistorisktidBchrift, XLVI, December 1977, p. 148.

[41] Kulterma.nn, 01'. cit., p. 148.

[42] Pudles, 01'. cit., p. 124. [43] Robert ScluQutzler, Art Nouveau (London: Thames and Hudson, 1978), p. 12. [44] Jeffrey Howe, "Mirror Symbolism in the work of Femand Khnopff", Arts Magazine, 53: September,1978. pp. 116-17. [45] Sharon Hirsch, Hi!dler's Symbolist Themes (Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1975), p. 3.

[46] Hanotelle, 01'. cit., p. 139.

[47] Hirsh, 01'. cit., p. 33. [48] Ibid., p. 51. [49] Ibid., p. 53. [50] Ibid., p. 73. [51] Ibid., p. 86. [52] Robert Goldwater, Symbolism, (New York: Harper and Row, 1979), p. 216.

[53] Schmutzler, 01'. cit., p. 79.

[54] Herbert, 01'. cit., p. 199. [55] Andre Fontainas, "Art Moderne", Mercure de France" IV, 30, 1899, pp. 251-2.