A Mystery Solved

Over a year ago I posted about a special copy I had acquired of L'Art Belge, with a lot of signed original prints incorporated into the revue. The attribution of one of them, on which the signature was to me quite indecipherable, had completely defeated me. So a big thank you to Wally at the Etsen blogspot for writing to let me know the identity of the mystery artist.


Portrait of a young man
Etching by Henri Mortiaux

The author of this etching was by the Brussels artist Henri Mortiaux, born in 1890 in Saint-Gilles. Mortiaux studied at the Brussels Academy of Fine Art under Émile Fabry, Guillaume van Strydonck, Jean Delville, and Constant Montald. He learned the techniques of etching, aquatint, and drypoint from Auguste Danse. He died at Villers-la-Ville in 1965.

I haven't had enough time to fully explore the Etsen blog yet, but I can already tell that it is full of interesting images and hard-to-find information.