Joseph de Smedt

JOSEPH DE SMEDT (Belgium, 1894- ¿).
Untitled, 1922.
Oil on cardboard.
Signed and dated in the upper left area.
Measurements: 59 x 41 cm.
Joseph de Smedt was a Belgian painter active during the first half of the XX century, recognized by his figurative compositions, portraits and scenes of historical and allegorical character. Trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, he developed a painting with a strong academic sensibility, although enriched by a palette and gestures close to late Impressionism. His subsequent apprenticeship in Paris with the decorator and art historian Louis-Olivier Merson was decisive for the monumental and narrative orientation of his work.
The influence of the French tradition can be seen in the compositional balance, the interest in atmosphere and the ability to endow his figures with an emotional and intimate dimension. In addition to easel painting, De Smedt produced monumental murals and stained glass designs, disciplines linked to the symbolist and decorative ideal of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.