Portrait European Jewish Rabbi Belgian Impressionist Painting Dieudonne Jacobs

Dimensions: H: 24.25, W: 21.0 IN

Hand signed lower right Portrait of a Chassidic Rebbe, Hasidic Master. Rare Judaica. Dieudonne Jacobs ( 1887 - 1967 ), an impressionist painter from Liège spent his life as an artist between the Ardennes of Belgium and the French Riviera, especially between Spa and La Garde ( Toulon ). He enrolled at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Liège, and was a part of great contemporaries, Richard Heintz , Ludovic Janssen , Joseph Bonvoisin , Emmanuel Meuris , Albert Raty , Camille Barthelemy.

Biography Dieudonné Jacobs was born in Montegnée , in the industrial suburbs of Liège , onJ une 10, 1887 Born into a modest family, he lived a rather sad childhood in one of the countless identical, soulless workers' houses that blended into the grayness and boredom. Strange destinies indeed were those of the three Jacobs sons (Joseph, Dieudonné, and Isidore), whom nothing, at first glance, seemed to destine for the arts, and yet all three achieved renown, each in a well-defined discipline of the artistic world. Dieudonné became a painter, his elder brother an actor and tragedian, and Isidore, the youngest, pursued a glorious musical career which, very early on, led him to become a violin professor at the Toulon Conservatory. Like most other impoverished teenagers, Dieudonné worked as an apprentice for a decorator. His artistic talent being as evident as his stubborn determination to commit to a specific path, he enrolled at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Liège. Ignoring his father's exhortations, he applied himself with exemplary diligence to the lectures of Adrien de Witte , Auguste Donnay , and Évariste Carpentier. Working at night or at the crack of dawn, and studying during the day, he had little time left for the leisure or amusements of his age.

Undeniably gifted in painting and possessing boundless tenacity, his studies progressed smoothly. In 1908, he received his first scholarship, the funds for which were intended to allow the recipient to travel to Belgium. He used this trip to learn and broaden his horizons. The same was true of a subsequent scholarship, which enabled him to stay in Paris. In Parisian museums, he discovered Monet and Impressionism. From then on, his future seemed determined. He saw himself peacefully settled somewhere east or south of Liège , to pursue, in complete tranquility, a carefully planned career, similar to that of his great contemporaries Richard Heintz , Ludovic Janssen , Joseph Bonvoisin , Emmanuel Meuris , Albert Raty , Camille Barthélemy ... Fate, war, the vagaries of life decided otherwise.

August 4, 1914 German troops invaded Belgium. A patriot, determined to put his valor at the service of his country, Dieudonné Jacobs, enlisted in the 14th Line

Infantry Regiment, participated in the defense of Liège. Wounded, he was taken prisoner. Sent to the rear, he escaped. Via the Dutch route, he reached England , then France , and finally found himself at the front in that tiny corner of Belgium, behind the Yser River , with his back to the sea. His weakened constitution prevented him from enduring for very long the hardships of dampness and water, in short, the serious inconveniences of trench warfare in a land of trenches and mud. Exhausted and suffering from bronchitis, he was close to despair. Practically condemned by the doctors, he was discharged due to pulmonary tuberculosis . Since then, life's twists and turns have continued: having accepted the offer from his younger brother, who teaches violin at the Toulon conservatory, he unexpectedly manages to recover his health in the Var region . Barely recovered, he takes up painting again. Landscapes follow one after another: the Var coast, Provençal skies , trees in the blizzard, and above all, the southern light that makes his palette speak. He paints and remembers; even there, in the Var region, he paints the High Fens , those misty landscapes that continue to haunt him. Chance brings him face to face with his future wife, whom he violently strikes on a street corner. From apologies to marriage, a relatively short period transforms the taciturn, bachelor painter into a devoted husband. With his wife, he shares a bohemian life. Lacking everything except love, the couple pools all their resources. Absences become increasingly difficult to accept. Some are necessary at times, to fulfill a commission or two, to go off and paint en plein air. As a recipient of a Lambert Darchis Foundation grant , Dieudonné Jacobs settles in Rome for four years, discovering and copying the great masters: Caravaggio , Ribera , Tintoretto . He is already gaining Vatican renown. He executes portraits and other commissions. The midday light inspires him. It prompts him to paint sketches, then larger compositions. The moors of yesteryear continue to haunt him, a symbol of solitude, of disarray; and sometimes of sadness, when he finds himself utterly alone in the Eternal City. Chance intervenes: two Brazilian art lovers discover in him a providential painter and buy his canvases, almost in bulk, without hesitation. A prominent citizen of the Var region, having taken a liking to him, offers him lodging and a shed to use as a studio. Later, he allows him to acquire a wonderfully secluded spot in La Garde, a vast, isolated village. At that time, the area was only sparsely inhabited. Even beyond the vineyards, the countryside offered breathtaking views of the sea and the islands. The plant life mingled in a wild vegetation composed of almond trees, pines, cypresses, palms, and mimosas. On the summit of a wooded hill, Dieudonné Jacobs built his first home with his own hands, constantly enlarging it as his financial means allowed. He added a studio to the living room, a balcony with a terrace to the studio, and a second building to the first, always taking care of the trees: cypresses, solemn guardians at the entrance to the estate; palm trees whose trunks swell with sap; and mimosas which, even when not in bloom, continue to intertwine shades of green and yellow, brimming with sunlight. It was there that he lived, as a husband, with his wife and three daughters, continually enriching an ever-expanding estate, and as a painter, revisiting familiar themes: views of Provence , Corsica , and Venice.He discovered it with delight, and returned to the Spa region to paint its moors and to replenish his nostalgia and his need for inner solitude; above all, as a good man, always attentive to others, especially those who, knowing poverty, are ashamed to admit their distress. It was also there that he experienced war and the occupation of the country, with dramatic consequences: driven from his home, he suffered the humiliation of seeing his house occupied by the invaders, trembling for his sumptuously labyrinthine dwelling, but even more so for his paradise, this wood filled with ancient and irreplaceable trees. Then came the landing, the enemy's defeat, and the return of peace. Overjoyed by the continued success he so richly deserved, Dieudonné Jacobs received friends and fulfilled commissions. He resided sometimes in Spa, sometimes in La Garde, according to his mood. He paints: solitary fens , peat bogs, sun-drenched coves , corners of Corsica; portraits too: a fisherman in Capri , a pipe smoker, the destitute; or the hieratic figures of some notable. He achieved fame. Montegnée celebrated him. The street where his birthplace is located now bears his name. The town of Spa, where he enjoyed spending time and where he had so many admirers, continued to welcome him with warmth and friendship. Renowned museums in Rome , Paris , Liège , and Spa acquired some of his works. Dieudonné Jacobs has the posthumous joy of being buried in his garden. Since 1971, his wife's grave has been next to his, perpetuating their long union.

“Jacobs loves Italy with the passion of his Latin heart… His painting, with its broad brushstrokes, is entirely a joy of color. In some of his torn canvases, there is a whole sympathy of tones, a whole power of figuration, a whole fantastic expression of life. His own technique is passionate and resonant. The palette knife works without brushing or licking. It carries within it the violence of a weapon and it highlights all the more the natural and primordial poetry of the artist. Guido Guida . 1930”

"His mountain paintings in Corsica or Savoy, his paintings of the moors of the Belgian Ardennes with their tragic skies, his seascapes that beckon escape, his archaeological sites in Italy, his sunsets, and many others—everything in his work is poetry, grandeur, and mastery of beauty, a generosity of sensations and feelings expressed in his drawing, technique, and colors. Colette Henrard-Séquaris . 1997 "

Association of Friends of the painter Dieudonné Jacobs Since 1987, the Friends of the Painter Dieudonné Jacobs Associations have awarded the Dieudonné Jacobs Grand Prize to support talented artists, alternating between La Garde ( Toulon ) and Spa . Throughout these years, exchanges have taken place between the two towns, which share many memories of the painter's life. In 2003, a twinning agreement formalized the friendship that had developed over time between the two communities, thanks to the dynamism of all those who helped strengthen these ties, particularly the painter's family and the energy of his daughter, Yvette Ortégat.

Bibliography Jean Puraye, The Lambert Darchis Foundation in Rome , Liège, 1993 Jacques Goijen, Dictionary of painters of the Liège school of landscape , Liège School of Landscape-Editions, Liège, 2014