Installation Art

Courtesy Galerie Patrick Lancz, Brussels

"War & Peace," a long-forgotten masterpiece by Emily Fabry on offer at the Belgian Antique Dealers Fair

April 2008 In Brief

Out of South Africa

Boon for Business

Emile Fabry

Send a letter to the Editor

Save to Del.icio.us Digg this

By far the grandest painting on offer at the Belgium Antique Dealers Fair, held January 18 to 27 in Brussels, was War & Peace, a long-forgotten masterpiece measuring more than 13 by 22 feet by the Belgian artist Emile Fabry (1865–1966). Famed for his monumental works (which can still be spotted in the Théâtre de la Monnaie, in Brussels, and the town hall of Saint-Gilles, in the city suburbs), Fabry painted the piece during WWI while in the U.K., where he fled when Belgium was under German occupation. The epic commission, which was to hang in the entrance hall of the University of Cardiff, in Wales, kept Fabry busy from 1915 to 1917, but for reasons that remain obscure, the university reneged on the deal. The painting was never installed and had never even been shown in public before its fair debut courtesy of the Brussels-based dealer Patrick Lancz. Lancz had discovered it rolled up in the home of a private Belgian collector, who had acquired it from Fabry’s descendants. According to the dealer, the shimmering pointillist brushwork needed only minor restoration, although he did have to construct a stretcher for its display. It provoked the admiration of critics and several gasps from the public over its idealized nudes and apocalyptic imagery evocative of William Blake, but no one matched the asking price of €200,000 ($294,000). Lancz now hopes to arrange its installation in its intended home in Cardiff.

"Installation Art" originally appeared in the April 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's April 2008 Table of Contents.