F L A N D E R S T O DAY

N O V E MB E R 2 4 , 2 0 1 0
!8
Arts
As I can
The Flemish Primitives change the world of art before your eyes in Bruges
T
hat the Flemish Primitives
painters living and working in the
Low Countries in the 15th and 16th
centuries had an extreme influence on
their counterparts across Europe is already
well known. Bruges Groeninge Museum
hosted an exhibition illustrating their
impact on painters in Southern Europe
in 2002, and now it stages the impressive
Van Eyck to Drer, looking at Central and
Eastern Europe.
The Flemish Primitives are credited
with being the first to use oil paint on
panels (a mixture called tempera was
used before then) and for innovative
techniques with oil paint. They created
a realism and warmth with their works,
with detail that offers a directness similar
to photography.
In Van Eyck to Drer, masterpieces by Jan
Van Eyck, Hans Memling and Rogier van
der Weyden, among others, are shown
with work by artists from Germany,
Austria, Poland, Hungary and Bohemia.
Works have travelled from across Europe
and elsewhere, including altarpieces
that were exported in the 15th century
from Flanders to Germany, paintings
by anonymous masters who clearly had
access to early Netherlandish art, and
pieces by Central and Eastern European
artists who travelled to the Low Countries
and incorporated elements of what they
saw into their own work.
By juxtaposing works by artists of two
different regions, the influences of the
one upon the other clearly materialise,
allowing visitors to see and not just
be told that the Flemish Primitives
did indeed trigger an artistic revolution.
In addition, you can see the ripples of
influence from a Flemish Primitive to
another artist, and from that artist to the
next.
The scope of the exhibition is vast there
is almost an overwhelming number of
altar panels, Madonna and Child paintings
and crucifixion scenes. Yet curators have
arranged the works well, each room
having a clear theme. Some focus on a
place, such as Cologne a trading centre
and one of the largest cities in mediaeval
Europe others put a particular artist
into the context of his time, such as
Martin Schongauer of Germany (who was
referred to in sources as the beautiful
Martin).
By breaking up the work in this way, the
curators have managed to turn what could
have been a confusing experience into
one that is visitor friendly, entertaining
and illuminating. Information placards
(in Dutch, English, French and German)
are also very helpful, highlighting one or
two of the works in the room.
Arguably, the most influential of the
Flemish Primitives was Rogier van der
Weyden, and there is a section dedicated
to his impact on others. Three of those are
his Netherlandish contemporaries Dieric
Bouts, Hugo van der Goes and Hans
Memling, who, each in his own way, were
told, transform Rogiers heritage. These
artists in turn influenced those working
in Central Europe.
In the case of Bouts, it was his composition
and landscapes that travelled eastward,
with his style being copied in numerous
panels, particularly in Germany. Two
of his most extraordinary pieces are
the wings of a circa 1450 Last Judgment
triptych, Road to Paradise and Fall of
the Damned.
The contrast of the titles is brought
out strikingly: one is full of light, with
pale-skinned women draped in white
cloths, walking on soft green grass in
the foreground, as figures ascend a hill
towards heaven in the distance; the other
is in dark tones, with tortured, skeletal
figures falling from the sky, tumbling into
the abyss, where cold stones and evil-
looking creatures await.
The inspiration that Memlings portraits
provided for painters such as Herman
Rode of Lbeck is highlighted by having
portraits by both men hanging next to
each other. As for van der Goes, other
influences on him included Van Eyck and
Schongauer, and, appropriately, there are
also Schongauer prints on display here,
and next to them prints by the German
Albrecht Drer. The connections from
one artist to the next and the reciprocal
influences are almost endless.
Drer, who was from Nuremberg,
travelled to the Netherlands in 1520 when
he was already a famous artist. During his
stay, most of which was in Antwerp but
also included visits to Bruges, Brussels
and Ghent, he became interested in early
Netherlandish art and met painters,
including Jan Provoost.
One beautiful oil painting by Drer on
display is Saint Jerome, which depicts
the wizened face of an old man with
a long white beard sitting at his desk
with a finger resting on a skull. Though
named after the fifth-century priest and
academic, the figure is based on an old
man Drer met in Antwerp.
In the same room is Provoosts Death and
the Miser, highlighting the link between
the two artists, in this case a skull theme
in both works. Drer, in fact, had multiple
talents a painter and printmaker, he also
practiced woodcutting, and 12 of them
make up The Large Passion, also included
in the exhibition.
A series of 12 miniatures, meanwhile, from
a cycle of the life of Christ is unattributed
but thought to come from Bavaria, circa
1432. Curators have wisely provided
magnifying glasses so that visitors can
examine the wonderful colours and details
of this tempera on parchment.
Also exceptionally displayed are
manuscript pages with illustrations around
the text in bright blues and reds: These are
to be found in a cabinet in the centre of the
second room, which focuses on Bavarian,
Swabian and Austrian works. Here, you
find Conrad Laib, a Salzburg artist who,
in one of his paintings, borrowed Van
Eycks personal motto Als ich kan (As
I can, a play on as Eyck can), reflecting
an awareness of Van Eycks work.
Van Eyck to Drer can be enjoyed in
numerous ways: For the connoisseur, new
connections will be made and, among
the hundreds of works on display, there
will certainly be some you havent seen
before. For the novice, there is plenty of
information available to put the period
and the works into context.
Whichever approach you take, the pure
visual impact is extraordinary, with many
of these 500-year-old works literally
dazzling you with their red, blue, green
and gold tones. As I came out of the
museum the autumn colours seemed
quite dull in comparison. !
ANNA JENKINSON
Saint Barbara, the right panel of a triptych, 1438. The exquisite colour and detail in the paintings of
Robert Campin set him apart; many historians argue that he is the rst great Netherlandish painter
F L A N D E R S T O DAY
N O V E MB E R 2 4 , 2 0 1 0
!9
CULTURE NEWS
Flanders is getting 10,000 trees
from the Avatar Home Tree
initiative of movie studio 20th
Century Fox and director James
Cameron, named afer their
2009 blockbuster flm. Te
initiative calls for one million
trees to be planted worldwide.
Flanders will be planted in
the areas of Waasmunster in
East Flanders and Tongeren in
Limburg, in cooperation with
Flemish groups Association
for Forests and Flanders and
Agency for Nature and Forests.
Te trees will make up part of
Flanders One Million Trees
initiative, which has already
seen more than 700,000 trees
planted.
Design Flanders, which
promotes the work of Flemish
designers, is crossing the
border to Wallonia for this
years Design Triennial,
Belgium is Design. Design for
Mankind. Tis sixth edition of
the triennial is being hosted by
the industrial mining complex
turned culture centre Grand
Hornu, a site celebrating
its 200th birthday this year.
Belgium is Design explores
how design afects the social
lives and fundamental desires
of communities and runs until
27 February.
Tonight begins a brand new
television series on n about
the infuence of Flemings living
abroad on food culture. Hosted
by Flemish photographer Lieve
Blancquaert, the frst episode
fnds visiting the successful
Tomas De Geest, who years
ago gave up his job at IBM in
Belgium to sell wafes from a
wagon on the streets of New
York City. Made in Belgium
airs every Wednesday at 21.40.
Flanders is making an excellent
show of it at the International
Documentary Film Festival
of Amsterdam (IDFA), the
Cannes of documentary
flmmaking, which draws
to a close on 28 November.
Eva Kpper spent seven
years completing Whats in
a Name, the portrait of New
York performance artist Jon
Cory, while Annabel Verbekes
Children of the Sea takes a look
at a special school for boys in
Ostend. Other Flemish flms
include Olivia Rochette and
Gerard-Jan Claes Because We
Are Visual, a poetic look at the
world of video bloggers; Tim
De Keersmaeckers Aperture,
which follows a psychotic
mans attempt to create order
in his life; and Martijn Payens
Mushrooms of Concrete, about
the 750,000 bunkers built in
Albania between 1975 and
1989.
Belgium has placed seventh
at the eighth annual Junior
Eurovision Song Festival, held
on 20 November in Minsk. Jill
& Lauren, a teen duo from
Gent, went to Minsk with their
song Get Up. Te pair earned
61 points from a combination
of traditional Eurovision
voting and a professional jury.
Te winner, with 120 points,
was Vladimir Urzumanyan
from Armenia.
In a name
Dont get confused: the artists
working in the Low Countries
in the 15th and 16th centuries,
painting such masterpieces as
The Arnolfini Portrait and The
Portinari Altarpiece, are also
referred to as Early Netherlandish
painters and often grouped in with
artists from the Late Gothic. In
Flanders, of course, we prefer the
term Flemish Primitives.
Exhibition namesake Albrecht Drers St Jerome from 1521 (left) was probably inspired by the
work of Flemish Primitive friend Jan Provoost, such as Death and the Miser from circa 1500 (right)
Jan van Eyck and his workshop created The Virgin and Child, with Saints
Barbara and Elizabeth of Hungary and abbot Jan de Vos circa 1442
Flemish Primitive Dieric Bouts Annunciation, circa 1480
German painter Michael Wolgemuts Portrait of
Levinus Memminger, circa 1485
Van Eyck to Drer
Until 30 January
Groeninge Museum
Dijver 12, Bruges
www.bruggecentraal.be

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www.idfa.nl
www.junioreurovision.tv