The second in the Becoming Gustav Metzger online exhibition series, Antwerp Models features 33 drawings in pencil, crayon and ink, the majority of which are thought to have been executed in Antwerp, Belgium between 1948 and 1949. 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’.
Antwerp Models: Becoming Gustav Metzger: Uncovering The Early Years, 1945-59
Forthcoming exhibition
