Jules De Bruycker

Jules De Bruycker (29 March 1870 – 5 September 1945) was a Belgian graphic artist, etcher, painter and draughtsman. He achieved a high level of technical virtuosity and is considered one of the foremost Belgian graphic artists after James Ensor. He is best known for his scenes of his home town Ghent, architectural views of cathedrals, war prints and book illustrations.

Life Jules De Bruycker was born in Ghent. His family operated a small upholstery and wallpapering business. Displaying a precocious artistic talent, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent at age 10. Upon his father's death four years later, he ceased to attend art classes and joined the family business. He continued to hone his artistic skills without formal training. After an interruption of 9 years, De Bruycker enrolled again at the Ghent Academy. His teachers included the painters Théodore-Joseph Canneel, Louis Tytgadt and Jean Delvin.

In his early years as an artist (from 1902) De Bruycker took up lodgings at an abandoned Carmelite abbey in the district across from the Gravensteen called the Patershol. This was at the time an impoverished area and it had attracted artists and bohemians who had moved there from about 1900. Many of the artists who would become members of the so-called Schools of Latem such as Gustave van de Woestijne, George Minne and Valerius de Saedeleer converged on this area. George Minne even maintained a studio there for some time.

Even as a member of this bohemian artist community in Ghent, De Bruycker continued to work in the family business during this period. While he made many watercolours and oil on canvas paintings in his early days, he developed an interest in printmaking after discovering in 1905 the etchings of the Ghent artist Albert Baertsoen in the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent.

De Bruycker also made many drawings of scenes in the less privileged quarters of Ghent. An example is the Around the Gravensteen in Ghent in which he depicts the area around the Gravensteen in Ghent in images reminiscent of Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Hieronymous Bosch and his contemporary James Ensor. In 1905, De Bruycker was selected by the writer Franz Hellens as the illustrator of his first novel entitled En ville morte. De Bruycker was named a correspondent of the Royal Academy of Belgium in 1923 and became a full member in 1925. In 1927 he received the national prize for fine art.

After his return to Ghent he took up residence in the Dominican Pand and in 1921 he made a series of drawings and etchings of the residents of his neighborhood. During the years 1922-1924 he made few prints but worked on 16 designs for woodcut illustrations for a new edition of Charles De Coster's Ulenspiegel.

In 1925 De Bruycker visited his friend Frans Masereel in Paris. Masereel encouraged him to work on architectural views which resulted in a series of prints of cathedrals in France and Belgium. During the war German print lovers had visited De Bruycker and even asked him to produce a drawing for propaganda purposes which he refused categorically.