Becoming Gustav Metzger: Uncovering The Early Years, 1945-59

Metzger spent summer 1948 in continental Europe, travelling by choice on a stateless passport, believing it was ‘more organic […] an affirmation of the past and an ongoing integration with the past’. His art historical journey – of sorts – included Holland, Belgium (Brussels, Antwerp) and France (Arles, Aix en Provence, Paris, Lille). Afterwards, he enrolled for a year at the Antwerp Art Academy, where he was taught by Belgian graphic artist and figurative painter, Gustave De Bruyne, funded by a grant from the city’s Jewish community. He recalled ‘drawing and painting from the model every day’ and in his spare time spent ‘hours and hours in the streets, drawing children, I made hundreds of drawings on blue paper, with pencil, influenced by the Renaissance’.