René Mels (1909-1977) Portrait Of A Young Man, Oil On Canvas Signed

 René Mels (1909-1977)
Portrait of a young man,
signed lower right
oil on canvas
73 x 60 cm
Framed : 77.5 x 64.5

This impressive portrait is obviously touching and striking for its technical mastery, but it is also surprising because it is the work of a painter better known for his abstract work.
He shows a real talent for this difficult genre: conveying psychological depth and rendering what might appear to be a physical likeness. In any case, he succeeds admirably in conveying the character of this young man and expressing his sensitivity.
What's also interesting is the treatment of the background, which picks up the grey of the young man's suit but is painted with real freedom.
It's a real painter's work that anticipates the artist's future developments.

René Meulemans, known as René Mels (1909-1977), was a Belgian painter, draughtsman, engraver (aquafortist), sculptor, ceramist and glass painter.
He was born in Herent-lez-Louvain (Leuven) in 1909, and studied at the Académie de Leuven (with Alfred Delaunois as his teacher), then at the Académie de Bruxelles (1930-1933, with Henri Van Haelen, Alfred Bastien and Jean Delville as his teachers) and then at the École nationale supérieure d'architecture et des arts visuels de la Cambre (Brussels, 1937-1938). He married the artist Renée Petit.
From 1931 onwards, he exhibited his expressionist work at the Cercle Artistique de Leuven, which borrowed heavily from Constant Permeke. He also produced various decorative works. In 1938, he took part in the Art Jeune exhibition organised by Charles Pry in the Atrium room at the Botanical Gardens in Brussels, along with a number of other artists: Gaston Bertrand, Anne Bonnet, Louis Van Lint. In 1941, he took part in the Art Jeune shows.
After this period marked by expressionism, he moved towards abstraction in 1947. He became interested in the golden ratio and oriented his composition in this direction.
A member of the Jeune Peinture Belge (Young Belgian Painters), he took part in the movement's activities in 1947-1948, notably at the exhibition at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels in October-November 1947.
"... By the middle of the century, René Mels was able to deconstruct reality through a concern for construction, a supple style and the use of chromaticism as such. His achievement lay in the field of engraving, which he took to the highest level of invention and originality, through matter, colour and relief; this research was then to find its echoes in his painting, La peinture abstraite en Belgique 1920-1970" (Philippe Roberts-Jones).
In 1950, he obtained a grant from the Belgian government which enabled him to spend some time in France. He attended S.W. Hayter's Atelier 17.
In 1952, he was a member of the Art abstrait group, founded by Jo Delahaut and Jean Milo, with Georges Collignon, Pol Bury, Léopold Plomteux, Jan Saverys and Jan Burssens.
Along with Gabriel Belgeonne, René Carcan, Jean Cox, Octave Landuyt, Lismonde and Luc Peire, he was a member of Cap d'encre, a group of engravers set up in 1963 by the Belgian Ministry of Culture to promote the art of engraving and the distribution of original prints.
René Mels died in 1977 in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert.