Alexander Struys

Alexander Struys
Alexander Struys in his study (c.1894)
Born	(1852-01-24)24 January 1852 Berchem, Belgium
Died	25 March 1941(1941-03-25) (aged 89) Uccle, Belgium
Education	Academy of Dordrecht
Occupation	Painter

Alexander Theodore Honoré Struys (24 January 1852, Berchem – 25 March 1941, Uccle) was a Belgian genre and portrait painter in the Realistic style.

Biography[edit]

Struys' father (originally from Holland) was a master glass painter. At the age of six, he was already a student at the Academy of Dordrecht.^[1] Later, Struys was a student of Polydore Beaufaux and Jozef Van Lerius at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.^[2] In 1871, he exhibited in Ghent and travelled with Jan Van Beers to France and England, where they attempted to sell their works, but barely made enough to get back home. His anti-clerical painting, "Birds of Prey" (or "God is Dead", in Dutch), created a scandal in 1876.^[1]

The year after, Struys was named a Professor at the Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School, following in the steps of his fellow Belgians, Charles Verlat (recently the school's Director) and Ferdinand Pauwels.^[2] One of his best-known students there was Christian Rohlfs. He remained in that position until 1882, when he moved to The Hague and worked as a portrait painter for two years, after which he went back to Belgium.^[1]

Working without a studio, Struys painted in the homes of the poor people he depicted. His work attracted much attention and praise in the more socially conscious publications of that time, and he became a close friend of Jakob Smits, who was also involved in social issues. Some less sympathetic commentators referred to him as the "painter of misery and pain".^{[citation needed]}

Struys settled in Mechelen and became head of the Royal Drawing Academy there. In 1902, he joined the administrative commission for the ninth exhibition by the "Société des Beaux-Arts à Bruxelles" and, three years later, became Vice-President of the "Société Royale des Beaux-Arts". That same year, he also served on the committee charged with preparing the "Exposition Rétrospective de l'Art Belge"; part of the country's 75th anniversary celebrations. He was also a member of the Académie Royale de Belgique and the Institut de France.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Media related to Alexander Struys at Wikimedia Commons

• Emile Wesly, Alexander Struys, from Elsevier's geïllustreerd maandschrift, 1894
• Max Rooses, « Alexander Struys », in: Oude en nieuwe kunst, Ghent, Boekhandel J. Vuylsteke, 1896, p. 205-220.
• "Struys, Alexander". In: Friedrich von Boetticher: Malerwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts. Beitrag zur Kunstgeschichte, Vol. 2/2, Saal–Zwengauer. Boetticher’s Verlag, Dresden 1901, pp. 856–857 (Online)