PhD-project: Léon Spilliaert’s Friable Media

The revival of pastel in Europe from 1850 onwards marked a significant period of transformation in its use as an artist’s medium. Pastel’s unique qualities, allowing both painterly and graphic expression, attracted a diverse range of artists, from landscape painters to Symbolists. Industrial advancements introduced new synthetic colorants and supports, expanding artists’ choices, but also complicating the landscape and leading to the misidentification of materials.

Léon Spilliaert (1881-1946), an Ostend-born artist, emerges as a compelling figure within this context. Self-taught, he was influenced by his familial connections to art and perfumery. Spilliaert’s use of pastel alongside other techniques remains understudied. Despite scholarly attention and recent exhibitions, the material aspects of his work are still largely unexplored. Spilliaert’s unconventional techniques and choice of materials, evident in the unique effects and damage patterns in his early works, hint at his idiosyncratic approach.

This PhD research aims at unravelling the material information embedded in Spilliaert’s drawings, in pastel and other friable media, preserved in Belgian collections. It hinges on multimodal technical imaging (high-resolution photography, multispectral imaging, microscopy, surface topography analysis, etc.), as well as reconstructions, and archival research, to provide insights into Spilliaert’s studio practice and shed light on his innovative use of drawing media. While the artist remained silent about his techniques, his artworks serve as tangible evidence of the creative process, offering glimpses into his artistic vision and methods.

Marie Noëlle Grison’s PhD research, started in July 2022, is supervised by Lieve Watteeuw (KU Leuven), and Sven Dupré (university of Utrecht). It is embedded in the BRAIN-BELSPO project FRIABLE that brings together KU Leuven, the RMFAB in Brussels, KIK-IRPA, the paper conservation training program at La Cambre art school in Brussels, and the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

Léon Spilliaert, Boxes in front of a mirror, ca. 1904, pastel on paper, laid down on cardboard, 589 x 406 mm. Brussels, Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, inv. no. 4898.

Léon Spilliaert, Vision. Elijah on the chariot of fire, 1912, colored crayon, pastel (?) and distemper (?) on cardboard, 690 x 894 mm. Brussels, Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, inv. no. 10226.

Léon Spilliaert’s first pastel box, bought in Paris in 1900. Ostend, Mu.ZEE.