Fernand Toussaint (Belgian painter) 1873 - 1955

Fernand Toussaint (Belgian painter) 1873 - 1955
Fernand Toussaint was born into a cultivated upper-middle class family in Brussels. His artistic talent was discovered during his childhood and was encouraged by his family to further develop his skills. At the age of 15, Toussaint began his education at the Art Academy of Brussels under the tutorship of the renowned portrait painter Jean-François Portaels from 1889 until 1894. Portaels was an innovative and demanding teacher who attached prime importance to the art of drawing. Thus Toussaint received thorough formal academic training before leaving for Paris in 1891 where he completed his studies under the Belgian portraitist Alfred Stevens. It is Stevens’ great influence that can be seen throughout the evolution of Toussaint’s oeuvre. Toussaint was primarily known as a painter and watercolourist of female portraits, which he presented in a rich and elegant manner. His works were usually commissioned by upper-middle class and noble families. Avant-garde art magazines in Paris took notice of him when he was awarded the gold medal for a portrait of a lady at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1929. Also a celebrated
painter of beautiful floral still lifes and interiors, Toussaint painted bouquets in the same elegant and feminine manner as his portraits. He did not limit himself to portraits and still lifes though; depicting cityscapes, landscapes, coastal views and seascapes too. His works in these genres were greatly influenced by contemporise such as Constant Permeke and Adrien le Mayeur de Merprès. The Belgian art critic Camille Lemonnier described Toussaint as “one of the painters that broadened the horizon of the peaceful and intimate landscape”. In contradiction to his vivid use of colour in his portraits and floral still lifes, Toussaint used sombre brush-strokes to realistically depict nature. Fernand Toussaint takes his place among the most important Belgian Post-Impressionist painters of the 20th Century. He is fêted for his ability to convey feminine charm and grace in his portraits and still lifes. Influenced by Alfred Stevens and the French Impressionists, he has a large and diverse oeuvre that has received international attention due to the quality and expression if his work