About the artist

Oscar De Clerck (Oostende, 11 December 1892 - Sint-Stevens-Woluwe, 20 January 1968) was an innovator of Belgian sculpture after the First World War. He was born in Ostend and studied sculpture at the Ghent Academie voor Schone Kunsten between 1909 and 1913. Initially influenced by Auguste Rodin and Rik Wouters, De Clerk made his first cubist work, Le Mendiant in 1913. De Clerck’s monumental fountain-sculpture Chant Chant des Oiseaux was regarded as groundbreaking at the 1913 Ghent World Exhibition. At the beginning of World War I, De Clerck fled to London where his brother Georges worked as a musician. In 1915 he moved to America where he was commissioned to create several sculptors for exhibition pavilions in Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Rio de Janeiro. In New York he also executed 'Wisdom', a relief for the Rockefeller Center.

After the war De Clerck began to develop a blend of Cubism and Futurism, producing simplified figures like l'Astronome (1919), La Flagellation (1920), James Ensor (1921), La Chanteuse (1926) Le Chant des Oiseaux (1927). Author and critic Michel de Ghelderode described De Clerk as having the most illuminated spirit and the most instinctive nature of the young Belgian sculptors. From 1934 onwards De Clerck taught at the Art Academy of Leuven and was appointed a director in 1945. With the passage of time, his work became more figurative and romantic.

His work is shown at various exhibitions, such as the International Exhibition in Monza (1925), World Exhibition in Brussels (1935), World Exhibition, Paris (1937), Exhibition New York (1938), Expo 58, Brussels (1958). He also exhibited at numerous solo exhibitions, including: Palais des Beaux Arts, Bruxelles (1929), Cercle Artistique et Littéraire Waux-Hall, Brussels (1930), Galerie Georges Giroux, Bruxelles (1932). Gallery Studio, Ostend (1933). His work can be found in the public collections of Musée des Beaux-Arts in Ostende; Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts in Brussels; Royal Library Albertina in Brussels; Collections of the Belgian State in Brussels.
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