Berko

Berko
Dictionairy of Belgian painters born between 1750 & 1850
810 pagina’s en extra 112 pagina’s afbeeldingen
Jaar: 1981
Taal: Nederlands
Afmeting: 20 x 25,50 cm
ISBN: niet van toepassing

Conditie: matig/redelijk. Kaft heeft een aantal vlekken, zo ook een aantal pagina’s

Voorwoord ‘Berko-Dictionary of Belgian painters born between 1750-1850′
It can be wagered that shortly and in future we shall be saying “the Berko’
Just as we now speak of ‘the Oxford” or “the Webster’.
And that will be paying a well-earned tribute to Patrick and Viviane Berko, the compilers of this dictionary
Following the ”crazy years”, Belgian 19th century painting entered a purgatory from which it is just beginning to emerge.
It is true that the aesthetic tastes born of the Dada movement had little in common with those that delighted our great-grandparents.
The non-figurative, in imposing its vogue, led adepts to burn what their forefathers had doted upon. Admirable canvases slumbered resignedly in lofts.
But fashions come and go as the whim takes them.
Their refluxes are nevel more than temporary.
Most of the time it suffices to wait for the pendulum of the clock to swing back.
That being said, one may wonder about the deep-lying reasons why Belgian 19th century painting has recently come back into favour.
Reaction against the extravagancies of the various avant-garde movements?
The need to return to a more cheerful, airy and ecological style of painting
However that may be, the “Berko’ arrives just at the right moment on the
tables of art-lovers.
It is a reference book, certainly, and that is its first title to fame
But the authors have had the intelligence to situate the typical painters of the time
(painters of animals, landscape painters, etc.) in the context of the great artists who
directly preceded or followed them : Ommeganck, Navez, Wiertz, Wynckelman
and Ansiaux for the end of the 18th century, Ensor, Khnopff, Evenepoel,
Van Rysselbergh and De Sadeleer for the early 20th.
Abundant, carefully chosen illustrations are not the least charm of this impor-
tant book and people will soon be wondering how they managed to do without it.
Philippe Cruysmans