Edgar Scauflaire
1893 – 1960
Edgar Scauflaire was born in Liège in 1893. The painter Daco,
for whom he was a model, inspired Scauflaire to become an artist. Scauflaire
studied at l’Académie des Beaux-Arts de Liège where
he was a student of Auguste Donnay, Adrien de Witte and Francois Maréchal,
Emile Berchmans and Ludovic Bauès.
Scauflaire exhibited often in Paris and Brussels. He participated in
most of the official exhibitions of Belgian artists in foreign countries.
His work was included in the following exhibitions: La Biennale de Venice
in 1924, 1938, and 1948; La Biennale de Sao Paulo in 1951 and 1953;
Biennale de Menton in 1953; Salon des Tuileries in 1949; l’Exposition
Universelle in Brussels in 1958.Works
of his can be found in the collections of the Belgian State and museums
in Brussels, Liège, Verviers, Seraingm La Louvière, Strasbourg,
Montbar, Bale and Buenos Aires.
Scauflaire was awarded
le Prix de l’Association Industrielle de Santa-Margarita Ligure
in 1950.
He was the founding member of l’Association pour les Progrès
Intellectuels et Artistique de la Wallonie.
Scauflaire was a brilliant draftsman: his drawings are finely detailed.
His early paintings, from the period just after World War I, convey
a strong cubist influence that carries through his entire oeuvre. His
subjects became more romantic and surreal in the 1920s. The style of
the Belgian Expressionists, a style unique to the region, emerged in
Scauflaire's works. Exaggerated and expressive, geometric and colorful,
these paintings communicated his confidence. Scauflaire’s style
changed in the 1940’s and 1950’s: he flattened the forms
but continued to use strong colors ; the effect of which gave these
paintings a more graphic look. His canvases tended to be large, some
as much at two and a half meters wide. Scauflaire executed many paintings
on glass, frescos, tapestries and other decorative murals as well.
Scauflaire was a very prolific artist whose career spanned many decades.
He recently has been recognized for his contribution to twentieth century
art. In 1994 a major retrospective sponsored by the Générale
de Banque was organized in Liége. The exhibition catalogue includes
extensive color illustrations and an essay by Delphine Quirin and Louis
Maraite.
Scauflaire died in
Liège in 1960. |
