"japonaiserie," Ketti Gilsoul-hoppe (1868–1939)

Watercolor depicting an oriental set: a bottle, parasol, fan, plate, and vase in a gradient of blue, beige, and red tones. A subject characteristic of the late 19th century, influenced by Japonism.

The watercolor is signed “Kathi Hoppe 1886,” referring to the artist who would later be known as Ketti Gilsoul-Hoppe (1868–1939), a renowned Belgian watercolorist. This is an early work, full of softness and delicacy.

It is presented with a beige mat, in a gilded period frame.

Dimensions: frame: 76 x 56 cm; image size: 40.5 x 25 cm.

Ketti Gilsoul-Hoppe, whose full name was Catherine Hélène Régin Gilsoul-Hoppe, was born on April 5, 1868, in Düsseldorf and died on November 15, 1939, in Ixelles; she was a Belgian painter of German origin.

Biography: Ketty Hoppe was born in Germany into a family of painters. In 1872, her family emigrated to Belgium. Ketty Hoppe learned to draw from her father, the engraver Édouard Hoppe; later, her teachers included Henri Hendrickx, Édouard Tourteau at the Brussels vocational school, and Jean-François Portaels.

In 1894, she married Victor Gilsoul, also a painter. She influenced her husband’s work, and he hers.

Ketty Gilsoul-Hoppe was a watercolorist who painted sun-drenched Flemish landscapes, cityscapes, gardens, courtyards, and flowers.

She exhibited at the 1902 Salon des Aquarellistes, *L’Entrée du béguinage*, which King Leopold II of Belgium acquired.

She was a member of the Royal Society of Watercolorists. In 1911, she was one of the founders of the Lyceum Gallery, alongside other artists such as Berthe Art, Alice Ronner, Emma Ronner, Anna Boch, Louise Danse, Marie Danse, and Juliette Wytsman.

She was awarded the medal of “Knight of the Order of Leopold.”

Her painting Interior Corridor is featured in the book *Women Painters of the World*, which provides an overview of the most prominent female painters up to 1905, the year the book was published.