Gouache, watercolor on paper, signed p.d. "G.Flasschoen".
Dimensions in frame: 45x55 cm (30x40 cm)
Gustave Flasschoen (Sint-Jans-Molenbeek 1868 - 1940 Brussels) was a Belgian painter, watercolorist, draughtsman, illustrator and printmaker, specializing in landscapes and genre scenes. He studied from 1887 to 1890 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Molenbeek (Brussels) with François Stroobant and at the Académie de Dessin et de Peinture in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek with the same teacher. He also took lessons from Van Dyck, a painter in Schaerbeek. In addition to genre scenes, Gustave Flasschoen also painted moving rural scenes and fragments of nature. He began as a designer of art posters and books. When the "Compagnie du Zoute" was founded in the new seaside resort of Knokke in 1909, he was commissioned to design a poster. His most famous poster became the pastel-colored "Woman," depicting a woman dressed in typical Belle Époque garb, with a green shawl flying, sitting on top of a sand dune. The poster was transformed into lithographs and postcards - 250,000 pieces were printed. Prior to World War I, Flasschoen traveled throughout Europe to Russia, and from 1912-1914 to Argentina. He was an illustrator for "La Dernière Heure" and the Brussels newspaper "Le Petit Bleu" and for the popular magazines "L'Illustration," "Le Globe Illustré" and "Pourquoi pas?" among others. He illustrated several books, such as "Légendes des Ardennes" (Hubert Stienert, 1928-1929) and "Les légendes de Bruxelles et du Brabant/Vieilles Hostelleries et voyageurs à Bruxelles au temps passé" (Auguste Vierset and Georges Desmarez, 1930) . When book illustrations were increasingly replaced by photographs, he began to devote himself entirely to painting. At the time, his paintings mainly consisted of landscapes, city views, fishing scenes, scenes from North Africa with charging horses and riders, and humorous scenes. He also produced posters and illustrations for books, including "A la boule plate. Mœurs bruxelloises" by George Garnir (Curtio) or for "Baedeker de physiologie bruxelloise à l'usage des étrangers" (both together with A. Lynen).
