Friday 29 January 2010
Saturday 16 January 2010
Tuesday 5 January 2010
Rik Wouters – Nel, the shadow of his images
Buil de Onplezierig thinks about Rik Wouters and Nel Wouters.
Nel Wouters wrote, “La vie de Rik Wouters à travers son oeuvre”
Buil de Onplezierig considers writing “Het Leven van Nel Wouters door haar werk”
Buil de Onplezierig asks, who is more important, Rik or Nel?
Buil de Onplezierig peels Nel off the canvas to see what is under her.
Buil de Onplezierig cuts her out like a figure in a paper collage.
Buil de Onplezierig considers the glue that holds her in Rik’s vision.
Buil de Onplezierig asks, without Nel what would Rik have painted?
Buil de Onplezierig questions, did Nel see the message behind Rik’s images?
Buil de Onplezierig considers; away from the paintings, who was Nel?
Did Nel dream of being well known as an artist in her own right?
Did Nel like delphiniums?
Did Nel make Waterzooi for Rik?
Did Nel prefer Waterzooi made with fish or chicken?
Did Nel keep in touch with Edgard Tytgat after Rik’s death?
Did, and if she did, when did, Nel institute the Rik & Nel Wouters Prize for Cancer Research?
Saskia van Rijn managed the business side of Rembrandt van Rijn’s art,
Did Nel Wouters manage the business side of Rik Wouters’ art?
Did Nel see that women who were trained as artists married other artists and then disappeared?
Did Nel think that women were femmes fatales, femmes fragiles, femmes savants or femmes domestiques (femmes qui font les travaux domestiques)?
In Art, did Nel see her role as a Muse or a Maker?
Buil de Onplezierig makes a preliminary search for information.
WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT NEL
1) Full name: Hélène Philomène Leonardine Duerinckx.
2) Born 18th October 1886, baptized 20th October 1886, in Schaarbeek, Belgium.
3) Witnesses to her baptism were Leonard De Klerk and Joseph Bouckmans.
4) Hélène is more popularly known as "Nel".
5) First cousin to the painter Adrien Paul Duerinckx.
6) 1904 Nel meets Rik Wouters
7) Married Rik in a civic ceremony in Watermaal-Bosvoorde on Saturday 15 April 1905
8) Nel and Rik moved in with Rik’s parents in Mechelen.
9) 1911/1912. Nel falls ill with tuberculosis and they move to Bosvoorde as the air there is considered healthier for her.
10) Nel is Rik’s principal model, she is painted - Ironing a blue cloth standing in front of the sittingroom fireplace - Lolling across a table sniffing Rik’s birthday roses - Lying on a bed with only brown stockings on - Standing by an open window with the autumn landscape behind her.
11) 31st July 1914 Rik is called to join the Belgian army, sent to the front and taken prisoner near Liege. Escapes. Close to Antwerp his unit is surrounded, Rik crosses the border to The Netherlands where he is sent to an internment camp at Zeist, between Amersfort and Utrecht.
12) September 1914, Nel flees German invasion of Belgium to be close to Rik in Zeist.
13) Rik complains of headaches which are diagnosed as caused by cancer of the jaw. Released on medical grounds, Rik & Nel live in Amsterdam.
14) 1915, Rik paints Nel seated, reading, wearing a black dress.
15) Nel and Rik confirm their civic marriage with a religious marriage service, Amsterdam, May 1916.
16) July 1916, Nel is widowed as Rik dies of his cancer in a clinic on the Prinsengracht.
17) Les Editions Lumiere, Bruxelles, 1944, publishes “La Vie de Rik Wouters a Travers Son Oeuvre” by Nel Wouters
18) Nel remarries – a Monsieur de Carnière – and lives in Brussels.
19) Nel dies in 1971.
20) 11th December 1991, Charcoal drawing by Nel Wouters, “Rik se Soutenant la Tete”, dated 1916, is sold at the auction house S.A. Servarts N.V.
Buil de Onplezierig wonders on the lack of analysis of Nel’s role and the enthusiastic acclaim given Rik.
Buil de Onplezierig considers John Stuart Mill and Marie Popelin.
Nel Wouters wrote, “La vie de Rik Wouters à travers son oeuvre”
Buil de Onplezierig considers writing “Het Leven van Nel Wouters door haar werk”
Buil de Onplezierig asks, who is more important, Rik or Nel?
Buil de Onplezierig peels Nel off the canvas to see what is under her.
Buil de Onplezierig cuts her out like a figure in a paper collage.
Buil de Onplezierig considers the glue that holds her in Rik’s vision.
Buil de Onplezierig asks, without Nel what would Rik have painted?
Buil de Onplezierig questions, did Nel see the message behind Rik’s images?
Buil de Onplezierig considers; away from the paintings, who was Nel?
Did Nel dream of being well known as an artist in her own right?
Did Nel like delphiniums?
Did Nel make Waterzooi for Rik?
Did Nel prefer Waterzooi made with fish or chicken?
Did Nel keep in touch with Edgard Tytgat after Rik’s death?
Did, and if she did, when did, Nel institute the Rik & Nel Wouters Prize for Cancer Research?
Saskia van Rijn managed the business side of Rembrandt van Rijn’s art,
Did Nel Wouters manage the business side of Rik Wouters’ art?
Did Nel see that women who were trained as artists married other artists and then disappeared?
Did Nel think that women were femmes fatales, femmes fragiles, femmes savants or femmes domestiques (femmes qui font les travaux domestiques)?
In Art, did Nel see her role as a Muse or a Maker?
Buil de Onplezierig makes a preliminary search for information.
WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT NEL
1) Full name: Hélène Philomène Leonardine Duerinckx.
2) Born 18th October 1886, baptized 20th October 1886, in Schaarbeek, Belgium.
3) Witnesses to her baptism were Leonard De Klerk and Joseph Bouckmans.
4) Hélène is more popularly known as "Nel".
5) First cousin to the painter Adrien Paul Duerinckx.
6) 1904 Nel meets Rik Wouters
7) Married Rik in a civic ceremony in Watermaal-Bosvoorde on Saturday 15 April 1905
8) Nel and Rik moved in with Rik’s parents in Mechelen.
9) 1911/1912. Nel falls ill with tuberculosis and they move to Bosvoorde as the air there is considered healthier for her.
10) Nel is Rik’s principal model, she is painted - Ironing a blue cloth standing in front of the sittingroom fireplace - Lolling across a table sniffing Rik’s birthday roses - Lying on a bed with only brown stockings on - Standing by an open window with the autumn landscape behind her.
11) 31st July 1914 Rik is called to join the Belgian army, sent to the front and taken prisoner near Liege. Escapes. Close to Antwerp his unit is surrounded, Rik crosses the border to The Netherlands where he is sent to an internment camp at Zeist, between Amersfort and Utrecht.
12) September 1914, Nel flees German invasion of Belgium to be close to Rik in Zeist.
13) Rik complains of headaches which are diagnosed as caused by cancer of the jaw. Released on medical grounds, Rik & Nel live in Amsterdam.
14) 1915, Rik paints Nel seated, reading, wearing a black dress.
15) Nel and Rik confirm their civic marriage with a religious marriage service, Amsterdam, May 1916.
16) July 1916, Nel is widowed as Rik dies of his cancer in a clinic on the Prinsengracht.
17) Les Editions Lumiere, Bruxelles, 1944, publishes “La Vie de Rik Wouters a Travers Son Oeuvre” by Nel Wouters
18) Nel remarries – a Monsieur de Carnière – and lives in Brussels.
19) Nel dies in 1971.
20) 11th December 1991, Charcoal drawing by Nel Wouters, “Rik se Soutenant la Tete”, dated 1916, is sold at the auction house S.A. Servarts N.V.
Buil de Onplezierig wonders on the lack of analysis of Nel’s role and the enthusiastic acclaim given Rik.
Buil de Onplezierig considers John Stuart Mill and Marie Popelin.
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