Ernest Wijnants

ERNEST WIJNANTS (Mechelen, 1878 - Aldaar, 1964)
"The Necklace", 1930.
Carved wood.
Signed with initials.
Exhibitions: "European sculpture of the 20th century", European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM), Barcelona, 2014.
Measurements: 90 x 40 x 26 cm.
In "The necklace" is a sculpture that stands out with personality from various influences: primitive art, oriental and African exoticism.... The movement with the costume also evokes Minoan art. The woodwork reminds us that Mechelen was an important center as a furniture manufacturer or in its legacy of Gothic sculpture. The result is an unclassifiable work, between tradition and the avant-garde.
Juan Carlos Bejarano states in the biographical text of "Una mica d'escultura, si un plau! L'escultura europea del segle XX", "Even as a child Ernest Wijnants worked with his uncle, the sculptor Rik Wouters, although his official training was at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. At the Ghent Universal Exhibition of 1913 he revealed himself with "Echo", with a stylization reminiscent of George Minne. He continued in this line, in the series of female figures that he made for the collector Frédéric Speth, where his inspiration ranged from Greek sculpture to Byzantine and Gothic. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Wijnants established himself as one of the leading exponents of Belgian sculpture, which led to teaching positions in Antwerp and, in 1938, he was awarded the State Prize for Sculpture and Plastic Arts. When he died, he gave his works to his native city. He was also a painter." (textual quotation).