View source for Louis Dubois (painter)

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{short description|Belgian painter}}
{{Infobox artist
|name=Louis Dubois
|image=
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|birth_name=Louis Dubois
|birth_date=1830
|birth_place= [[Brussels]], Belgium
|death_date=1880
|death_place=Brussels, Belgium
|occupation=[[Painter]]
|education=
|work_places=
|parents=
|spouse=
|relatives=
}}
[[File:Louis Dubois003.jpg|thumb|right|300px|''The Storks'', 1858, now in the [[Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium]]]]
[[File:Louis Dubois006.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''The Lady with Bouquet'', 1854–1855, now in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium]]
'''Louis Dubois''' (1830–1880) was a [[Belgians|Belgian]] painter who specialized in [[Landscape painting|landscapes]] and [[Portrait]]s in a [[Naturalism (visual art)|naturalistic]] style. He also painted [[Genre works|genre]] and [[Still life|still-life]] subjects.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Viardot|first=Louis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HcxPAQAAMAAJ&q=Louis+Dubois+(painter)&pg=PA10|title=The Masterpieces of French Art: Illustrated, Being a Biographical History of Art in France, from the Earliest Period to and Including the Salon of 1882|date=1884|publisher=Gebbie & Company|language=en}}</ref>
== Personal life ==
Louis Dubois was born in 1830 in [[Brussels]], Belgium. He died of a respiratory illness in Brussels in 1880 at the age of 50.
==Free Society for the Fine Arts==
Louis Dubois belonged to a group of artists who, in the style of the second half the 19th century, rebelled against the traditional painting of the past in favor of the style of this period. With the painters [[Théodore Baron]], [[Louis Artan]], Edmond Lambrichs, F. Foudin, on 1 March 1868, he became one of the founders of La Société Libre des Beaux-Arts.
The society was officially established in 1868 as "Comité de Salut Public révolutionnaire, pour la libération de l'Art" according to [[Lucien Solvay]]. The society members scorned the rules of the Academy and the [[aesthetics]] currently accepted; the artists of the "Free Society for the Fine Arts" freely and uniquely interpreted nature and reality, without following a common discipline, and stated their motto: "Liberté et Sincerité"  and thus started a vehement controversy.
To make known and spread their [[realist philosophy]], in 1871 they created "''L'Art Libre''" an art and literary journal under Leon Dommartin's direction; it was published on the 1st and 15th of each month (the first was published on 15 December 1871).
Louis Dubois, as the principal illustrator and the only painter-editor, was the most argumentative.
Under the pseudonym "Hout" (Dutch translation of Dubois), in his alert, precise style, Dubois criticized traditional painting in his stories.  In his well-respected [[lampoons]], he spoke from the perspective of good sense, logic, sincerity, truth.
==Criticism==
On 1 January 1872, Duboi published under the title "Les Biographes et les Biographies" a critique of his professional enemies, The Romantics of the school of 1830 (published again in "L'Art Moderne, Revue artistique des Arts et de la Litterature" No 24 of the 4th year, Sunday, 15 June 1884.
On 1 February, and 1 March 1872, "Le Peintre d'Histoire" spoke against past painters of the so-called "Modern Era."
On 15 July and 15 August 1872, "Du Portrait" criticized official portraits on natural skins.
On 15 September and 1 October 1872, in his article "Du Procédé" Dubois said, "paint as you like . . . provided that you use true tones, in the right places."
On 11 February 1873, after 10 years of publication, the Review underwent a transformation, expanding under the title "L'Art Universel"; [[Camille Lemonnier]] became the director. "Hout" the published an article "A propos des peintres du rire" ([[Frans Hals]], Jordeans, [[Jan Steen]], the triad of painters of good spirits).
Dubois is also given credit for the articles signed "Karl Stur," in "''L'Art Libre"'' and in the daily newspaper ''"La Chronique"'' (lead article "Causerie"), during the years 1870–1871.
==Paintings==
Dubois worked in Paris at [[Thomas Couture]]'s studio, which was active from 1847 to 1863. He also found himself in the company of [[Félicien Rops]], [[Charles Hermans]], [[Constantin Meunier]], Jules Raeymaeckers, among the attendees of the "Atelier Libre Saint-Luc" in Brussels from 1853 to 1863, then directed by Slingeneyer – an association of young painters gathered to work together.
Dubois exhibited for the first time at the [[Brussels International Exposition (1897)|Brussels Exhibition]] of 1857 where he showed three paintings "Joueurs" (Players), "Embuscade" (Ambush), and "Prêtre allant célébrer la Masse" (Priests going to celebrate Mass).
At an 1860 show, Dubois showed the great work "Les Cigognes" (The Storks), (shown at Spa that same year) painted in 1858, "La Roulette" (both of which today hang in the [[Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium|Royal Museum of Fine Arts]] in Brussels) and a study called "Enfant de choeur" (Choir Child) (this remained in his family and is now on display in [[Maui]], Hawaii in the home of his great great granddaughter Maureen Vernon Breen); in 1863 "Solitude" (formerly "Le Chevreuil mort [dead Deer]) (also now on display in the [[Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium|Royal Museum]] in Brussels) shows the dead animal outstretched in the middle of a silent forest.
==Associates==
Dubois considered as his friends: [[Courbet]], [[Louis Artan]], [[Félicien Rops]], [[Constantin Meunier]], [[Alfred Verwee]], [[Joseph Coosemans]]. [[Alfred Verhaeren]], [[Jean-François Tielemans|Jean-François Taelemans]] (1851–1931), and [[Théodore Baron]] were his students, and [[Frans Van Leemputten]] (1850–1915) followed his influence.
[[Camille Lemonnier]] wrote: "Master Louis Dubois, I saved him for last, like a hot pepper for a bored palate. Zounds! What painting! I recognized the power of another with distinction." [[Edmond François Valentin About|Edmond About]] said about him, "he was the most distinguished painter working in Belgium."
== Legacy ==
Twenty-one of Dubois' paintings and those of his students were displayed at the 1880 [[Cercle Gaulois|Brussels Artistic and Literary Circle]]; and in 1891 at the Arts and Press Expo.
His works were also displayed at the
* 1905 Belgian Art Retrospective in [[Brussels]]
* 1906 at the Belgian Art Exhibition at [[Guildhall, London|Guild Hall]] in London
* 1907 Belgium Autumn Art Show in Paris
* 1910 Brussels Show: The Free Aesthetic Evolution of a Landscape (5 panels)
* 1920, at [[Antwerp|Anvers]]: Chosen Work of the Belgian Masters (Louis Dubois, 4 paintings)
* 1922 Brussels Artistic and Literary Circle (5 panels)
* 1923 Belgian Art Show, in Paris
* 1926 Belgian Art Show, in [[Bern]]
* 1927 Belgian Art Show, in London
* 1930, at the Centennial Art Expo of Belgian Art in Brussels, at the Third Salon (Show) at [[Namur]],
* 1931, at the Belgian Art Show in [[Copenhagen]]
* Belgian Art Show at Expo of the Century
* Expo of Women's Portraits in Brussels,
* 1932, at the Brussels Fine Arts Palace, Retrospective of the Masters of La Societe Libre des Beaux-Arts, Artan, Dubois, De Grouz, Verwee, Meunier, Rops, Baron, Smits (Dubois 61 paintings)
* 1935 Brussels Universal and International Expo, "Five Centuries of Art" (Dubois 3 paintings).
The [[Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium|Brussels Museum]] has 15 of Dubois' works on display, the [[Ixelles]] Fine Arts Museum<ref>{{Cite web|last=Fun|first=Everything is|date=10 March 2017|title=Museum of Ixelles|url=https://www.brusselsmuseums.be/en/museums/museum-of-ixelles|access-date=6 August 2020|website=Brussels Museums|language=en}}</ref> displays five paintings, the [[Charlier Museum|Charlier-Van Custen Museum]] displays three paintings, the Gand Fine Arts Museum displays three works, [[Tournai|the Tournai]] Fine Arts Museum displays works.
The [[Ostend]]e Fine Arts Museum displayed three of his paintings, but they were destroyed during [[World War II]],
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Refbegin}}
*The vast majority of the information above is taken from a National Biography published by the Royal Academy of Sciences, Letter and Fine Arts of Belgium, Excerpt from the 42nd Volume, prepared by the firm of Emile Bruylant, Legal and Scientific Publications Corporation, 67 La Regence Street, 1964.
* {{Bryan (3rd edition)|title=Dubois, Louis |volume=1}}
{{Refend}}
{{commons category|Louis Dubois}}
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[[Category:1830 births]]
[[Category:1880 deaths]]
[[Category:Painters from Brussels]]
[[Category:19th-century Belgian painters]]
[[Category:Belgian male painters]]
[[Category:19th-century Belgian male artists]]