Clément Serneels

CLEMENT SERNEELS (Belgium, 1912-1991).
"Biumba, young African girl", 1939.
Oil on panel.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 50 x 40 cm; 70,5 x 60,5 cm (frame).

Son of a Spanish mother and Flemish father, Clement Serneels was educated at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. In 1936 he received a government scholarship to spend a year painting in the former Belgian Congo. Gradually, he crossed the country from Matadi to Elisabethville (present-day Lubumbashi). Instead of sketching, Serneels always traveled with all his artist's materials to paint and finish his oil paintings on the spot. Unlike his fellow Africanist painters, who made preparatory drawings, his style is very defined and accentuated, with a slight tendency to stylization. With a steady hand, he drew the contours of his figures, often using the back of the brush to trace lines in the wet paint. Although he sometimes painted portraits of chiefs, he was particularly interested in African women. On his return to Brussels, he held an exhibition of these works which achieved great success. He took advantage of the profits to return to Africa, settling in Costermansstad (present-day Bukavu) in the Belgian Congo during World War II. Serneels moved to South Africa in 1945, but returned to live in Lake Kivu in 1953. In 1960 colonial rule in the country was ended, prompting Serneels to return to Belgium indefinitely. The artist exhibited internationally: South Africa, Belgium, Mexico, the United States and elsewhere in Europe. His work can be seen in the Brussels Museum.