Biography

Born in Saint Joost-ten-Noode in 1884, Henri Quittelier enrolled at the Brussels Academy in 1901. One of his teachers at the Academy was Emile Fabry, the famous symboliste. Quittelier’s paintings for the next few years were all of a figurative nature often depicting mythological figures, very reminiscent of Fabry’s work. By the time he graduated in 1907 he had turned his attention to landscape painting and had adopted the ideals of the Impressionists. This example, painted in 1908, is typical of these early landscapes. Entitled ‘Brume d’Automne’ or ‘Autumn Mist’, Quittelier has used a soft, pastel palette bathed in a warm light to produce a work of simplicity yet strikingly effective.
Henri Quittelier was a founder member and president of the influential, Uccle Centre d’Art, a vice president of the La Gravure Originale Belge as well as an honorary member of many other Belgian art institutions. His landscape painting continued until the late 1930’s when he once again worked on more figurative works. Often used as book illustrations, these pieces were usually executed in watercolors. A large number of these items can be seen at the Cabinet des Estampes in Brussels.