Edgard Tytgat
Edgard Tytgat
He was born in Brussels and spent his youth in Bruges, where he found inspiration for his future career. His father, a lithographer, naturally influenced his work. When World War I broke out, he left Belgium and stayed in London, where he met Permeke, Van de Woestyne and Daeye. Together with his fellow soldiers, he organized a celebration for the troops in London. These were also his first years working in woodcut.After returning to Brussels in 1923, he settled permanently in Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe and joined the Flemish expressionist school of Permeke and De Smet. He often drew inspiration from folklore and everyday life.
He also designed tapestries, such as the monumental (5 x 5 m) tapestry for the Kursaal. You can tell from the artwork that it was originally a design for a tapestry by the mirrored lettering. For the tapestry in the Kursaal, he drew inspiration from Greek mythology, depicting the embarkation of Iphigenia. It is one of Tytgat’s last major works.
In 1955, two years before his death, the Kursaal hosted a retrospective exhibition of his work. The piece was displayed at the Thermae Palace for the past 20 years, but returned to the Kursaal in November 2018 and was fully and carefully restored in 2019.
