Front line painters @ Expo Westfront Nieuwpoort
Now on display at the Westfront Nieuwpoort permanent exhibition: three paintings by our front line painters!
Three paintings from our collection have found their home in the permanent exhibition of Westfront Nieuwpoort. The paintings are made by some front line painters from the First World War and depict the horrors and devastation of war.
Two canvases by the painter Marcel Canneel can be found at the exhibition, the oil paintings "Battlefield at Nieuwpoort" and "Destroyed house at Nieuwpoort". Canneel was the youngest child of engineer Jules-Marie Canneel sr. and Marie Eugénie Emilie Van Langenhoven. Several members of his family were active in the art world. Unlike his brothers, Caneel did not receive a formal academic art education, but trained himself as a self-taught artist. His paintings include figures, landscapes, cityscapes, still lifes and war scenes, initially in an impressionist style that eventually evolved into a more severe and synthetic design.
The last canvas from our collection to be featured in this exhibition is the oil painting "The painters' house near the locks of Nieuwpoort, January 1917" by André Lynen. Lynen had a studio in Nieuwpoort since 1908. At the outbreak of the First World War, he volunteered for the war. After many wanderings, he eventually joined the Artistic Department of the Army and settled in Nieuwpoort in August 1916. In 1917, he had to leave the division after the Minister of War decided that only those over the age of 30 were allowed to be part of this division. Lynen ended up in the 12th Artillery and made several panoramic sketches in this division as an observer.
In addition to these three paintings, you can also admire a projection of the Panorama of the Yser at this exhibition. This canvas depicts the heroic Battle of the Yser, which took place between 16 and 31 October 1914, when the Yser plain was flooded to halt the German advance. To find out more about this impressive work, click here.
