Theodore van Rysselberghe
Date of birth: 1862.11.28
Place of birth: Ghent
Date of death: 1926.12.13
Place of death: St Clair
Category: printmaker
Identity:
Theodore ('Theo') van Rysselberghe was a painter and lithographer.
Life:
Van Rysselberghe was educated in the city of his birth, Gent, and studied art in Brussels. After voyages to North Africa and Spain, he settled in Paris where he came under the influence of Camille Pissarro and, after seeing the painting La Grande Jatte, of Seurat, the pointillist painter. He joined the group of Seurat, Signac and Cross and became one of Belgium's most important artists at the turn of the century. He also designed some posters for bookshops and art galleries.
He was famous for his portraits of poets and other literary figures and had a small oeuvre of etchings and lithographs. He published sets of etchings, which are comparable in scale and subject, and at times in composition and technique, to Whistler's etchings.
Bibliography:
Bénézit, E., Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, 8 vols, 1956-61. 'Théo van Rysselberghe', Wikipedia. Théo van Rysselberghe, Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, and Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, 2006.
