Shadows and Light: Symbolist Art in Belgium

A beautiful presentation of 130 major paintings and sculptures by Belgian artists Fernand Khnopff, Léon Frédéric, Constantin Meunier, George Minne, Xavier Mellery, and Léon Spilliaert.Showcasing the most significant collection of Belgian symbolist art in private hands, this exhibition and catalogue present 140 major paintings and sculptures by Belgian artists Fernand Khnopff, Léon Frédéric, Constantin Meunier, George Minne, Xavier Mellery, and Léon Spilliaert, who were at the vanguard of the symbolist movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries—a key moment in the development of modern art. The wider European context is highlighted with works by Gustave Moreau, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, František Kupka, and Koloman Moser. Essays by leading American and Belgian scholars Anne Adriaens-Pannier, Claude Cernuschi, Edouard Derom, Alison Hokanson, and Oliver Wunsch, as well as Howe, contextualize the complex mind- and landscapes of Belgian artists. Symbolist art engages with the most crucial issues of modern life, including questions of faith, social justice, historical context, individual identity, and psychological analysis. Building on the historic tradition of Belgian and Flemish art, the works are innovative in style and personal vision, presented in full color in this volume.