Trompe l'Oeil De Deux Ducks, Clesse Louis, Brussels 1889 - 1961, Peintre Belge

Trompe L’Oeil of Two Ducks

Clesse Louis
Brussels 1889 – 1961
Belgian Painter
Signature: Signed bottom right

Dimensions: Image size 55 x 45 cm, frame size 62 x 52 cm
Medium: Oil on panel

Biography: Clesse Louis Liévin Théophile was born on June 15, 1889 in Ixelles (Brussels). He was a Belgian Post-Impressionist and Realist painter of landscapes, seascapes, still lifes and portraits. 

He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. He received advice and encouragement from master teachers and artists Alfred Bastien (1873 – 1955) and Emile Clause (1849 – 1924).

Clesse opted to evoke emotion rather than realism in his work. He had a subjective approach to painting and showed us the essence of the image. His colours were vivid and brush strokes distinctive with a thick application of paint.

Painter made his debut at the Brussels Triennial Salon in 1907. Primarily he painted in the Sonian Forest, the Zenne Valley and in West -Flanders, along the canals. He worked in the summer in Oudergem and from 1932 regularly stayed in Oudenburg in his studio, from where he explored and painted the coast, the harbour, the countryside, the villages and Bruges. In 1959 he acquired the honorary citizenship of Auderghem.

He was member of the Cercle Artistique et Littéraire (Cercle Gaulois), also member of the acquisition committee of the Museum of Brussels. He has a victory column in the gardens of Ter Kameren. He was a founding member of the “Association of Belgian Professional Artists”.

He died on February 9 in 1961 in his hometown Elsene (Brussels). Today, his work can be found in private and public collections including in the collections of the Museums of Antwerp, Brussels, Elsene, Schaerbeek, Ostend, Charleroi (Belgium), Reims (France), Algiers (Algeria), Cairo (Egypt), Kaunas (Lithuania), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), San Francisco (California) and Tokyo (Japan).

Literature:
Paul Piron, De Belgische Beeldende Kunstenaars uit de 19de en 20ste eeuw, Art in Belgium, p. 215
Wim & Greet Pas, Biografisch Lexicon Plastische Kunst in België, Arto 2000, p. 141