Georges Minne (1866-1941)

Born in Ghent in 1866, Minne studied architecture until 1884. Two years later Minne joined the prestigious Symbolist art group Les Vingt, members of which included Fernand Khnopff, James Ensor, Theo van Rijsselberghe and Henry van de Velde.

The motif of the kneeling figure begins in the mid-1890's and culminates in the Fontaine des agenouillés (fig.1), a work commissioned by art patron Karl Ernst Osthaus for the Folkwang Museum in Hagen. George Minne's L'Agenouillé not only embodies the primary elements of Art Nouveau and Symbolism, but also recalls stylistic facets of Gothic northern European sculpture. The work cleary departs from the tradition of literal naturalism and instead introduces a tactile representation of emotional experience. Completely self-absorbed the youth shields himself from the external world, suggesting an inner life withheld from the viewer.
Other marble examples of this sculpture can be found at the Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam and in the Musée de Gand in Ghent.

Senator and brewer Jozef de Blieck was a mecenas for the artist Valerius de Saedeleer, who started assembling his collection of Belgian art before 1910. The present lot has been in the possession of his family ever since.