With thanks to Historian, Poet, Writer, Translator AC Benus for
finding this artist for us
Maurice painted historical scenes, domestic scenes, portraits, nudes, beach scenes, landscapes and seascapes.
During the First World War, Maurice volunteered and became a member of the Section Artistique at the Front (see below).
His villa “Sunshine” became a point of attraction for other painters, from France, the United States of America and Japan. In later years, when their works were labeled “academic impressionism”, some of these artists began to practice a new direction that would come to be known as Flemish Expressionism.
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| WW1 postcard by Maurice Wagemans entitled "Heros" |
Maurice was a member of several artists' associations: Artists Association, Cercle Artistique et Littéraire (Brussels), Pour l'Art, Le Sillon and Kunst van Heden.
Maurice died in Bredene on the Belgian coast in West Flanders on 31st July 1927 and was buried in the Cemetery Paster Pype on the Nieuwpoortsesteenweg in Ostend, Belgium.
You can see other examples of Maurice's WW1 paintings on this website, from which the biographical information is taken: https://muizenest.nl/2017/04/19/maurice-wagemans/
Note: Section Artistique de l’Armée belge en Campagne (Artistic Section of the Belgian Army in the Field)
It was not until 1916, a relatively calm year on the Yser front, that the Section Artistique de l’Armée belge en Campagne (Artistic Section of the Belgian Army in the Field) was created. The origin of this unit is somewhat vague since no official decision is included in the general staff's Daily Orders, but its paternity is generally attributed to Alfred Bastien, with the support of the Royal couple through the intermediary of Jules Ingenbleek, the King's secretary.
Posted to Nieuwpoort, the Brussels painter was joined, between July 1916 and August 1918, by 25 other artists with differing styles and sensitivities; the youngest were Joseph Vandegem (20 years) and André Lynen (28 years), while the oldest were in their 40s. This was not a simple company of brotherly artists, as had been the wish of Alfred Bastien, but rather an administrative division of the General Headquarters (located in La Panne), directed by an officer and subject to strict regulations. Set down on 23 June 1916, these regulations stipulate that the Section members are free to exercise their art (Article I) but that "no painting, outline, drawing or sketch can be published or sold during the war without the approval of the General Headquarters censor" (Article V), while the government also retains "a right of priority for the possible purchase of their works" (Article IV) ; moreover, though there is "no provision for promotion in rank or salary increase" and while they "must provide for themselves" (Article II), the artists are dispensed from any guard duties and other tedious obligations related to their function as a soldier.
Source:
https://www.rtbf.be/ww1/topics/detail_pencil-charcoal-and-brushes-at-the-front-the-artistic-section-of-the-belgian-army-in-the-field?id=8355944
