Pastel on paper
41 x 31.5cm
Signed bottom rght
This intimate portrayal of fellow artist Vera Bodily by the Symbolist Émile Fabry has a quiet power and sense of mystery. Fabry had been forced into exile, to St Ives, Cornwall, from his native Belgium, where he became a valued member of the community, giving lessons and painting several figures. This sensitive depiction suggests a friendship and kindredness between the two artists.
Fabry was an established and renowned artist by the time war broke out, having exhibited with the groups, Pour L’Art and Salon de la Rose + Croix in 1893 and 1895, respectively, and then with the Salon de l'Art Idéaliste. The openess and flexibility of entry of exhibitor groups such as Les XX, meant an exchange of techniques and practices between varied artists and it therefore became a conflation of French, Austrian, German and Belgian avant-gardes. This lead to several Symbolists experimenting with Pointillist technique, Fabry being one them. There are remnants of this experimentation in the present work; in the fragmented strokes which make up the contours of the subjects face. Furthermore there is a stillness and a softness, suggestive of flickering candlelight, characteristic of some Symbolist approach. The non-uniform dark background gives the sense of negative space which has a buzz of latent energy, like visual static. The portrayal seems less a posed portrait and more a moment captured and the low perspective gives the subject a sense of monumentally, suggesting a respect, and also adds to the naturalness of the piece suggesting an intimacy. All these elements combine to give this portrayal a deep power of feeling making it pregnant with deep emotion.
The St Ives Times in March 1916 records that Fabry was painting in St Ives and that he was to remain there for the duration of the War. The coastal town was refuge for over fifty other artists during WWI. Vera Barclay Bodilly, born 1895, depicted here at the age of 20 or 21 years old, went on to study at the RA Schools from 1922 to July 1927. Following this she joined St Ives Society of Artists in 1927 and contributed to their first exhibition at Porthmeor Gallery in 1928.
Born in 1865, Émile Fabry was a student of Jean François Portaels at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, where he was made a professor from 1900. He was one of the founders, with Jean Delville, of the Pour l'Art circle. He was made a member of the Académie Royale in Belgium. From 1901 until his retirement in 1936 (war year aside) Fabry was professor of drawing in Brussels, and from 1933 onwards also of decorative painting. After the Great War he was asked by Belgian Government to help design a Victory Monument/Memorial. In 1932 he was awarded as a Commander of the Order of Leopold.
