Born in 1906 in Schelle, a small town to the south of Atwerp, Georges Averhals would become a talented painter of landscapes and still lifes predominantly. He studied at the Hoger Instituut der Schone Kunsten in Antwerp. Here he received instructions from some of Belgium’s most prominent artists in the post World War One years. Professors at the institute included Felix Gogo, Walter Vaes and Jan de Bruycker. Graduating around 1927 he commenced his career as a professional painter working at first in a somewhat traditional Impressionist manner before changing his direction towards Modernism by the late 1930’s. This particular work, an example of his still life painting, can be considered to have been painted early in his career, a date of around 1928 has been suggested.
An interesting side note on Averhals career is that he was employed for a while by the National Bank of Belgium as an engraver for bank notes and government bond certificates. In the early 1930’s he along with two of his contemporaries founded the Academy of Boom providing artistic instruction to that area. In 1936 he was made director of the academy, a position he held until after World War II.
During the 1940’s and 1950’s he painted some figural works, mostly in watercolors, which although artistically interesting seem to lack the vitality of his earlier oeuvre. In the 1960’s he returned to the Academy of Boom where he taught another generation of young Belgian Artists. Georges Averhals died in the Belgian town of Louvain in 1975.
Lit; Arto
P. Piron
