Anna Boch
Anna Boch | |
|---|---|
 Portrait photo of Anna Boch (before 1900) | |
| Born | 10 February 1848 Saint-Vaast, Belgium |
| Died | 25 February 1936 (aged 88) Ixelles, Belgium |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Pointillism, Impressionism |
Anna-Rosalie Boch (10 February 1848 – 25 February 1936), known as Anna, was a Belgian painter, art collector, and the only female member of the artistic group, Les XX.[1]
Boch's family was involved in art in different ways. Her father, Frédéric Victor Boch, was a successful manufacturer of porcelain; her brother, Eugène Boch, was a painter, and her cousin, Octave Maus, was an art critic.[1][2]
Artistic style
[edit]
Boch participated in the Neo-Impressionist movement. Her early works used a Pointillist technique, but she is best known for her Impressionist style which she adopted for most of her career. A pupil of Isidore Verheyden, she was influenced by Théo van Rysselberghe whom she met in the artistic group, Les XX.[citation needed]
Collecting
[edit]Boch actively collected works of art by her contemporaries. She assembled a major collection of Post-Impressionist paintings, which included works by Paul Gauguin, Paul Signac, James Ensor, and Vincent van Gogh.[2][1][3] She promoted many young artists, including Van Gogh, whom she admired for his talent and who was a friend of her brother Eugène Boch. La Vigne Rouge (The Red Vineyard),[4] purchased by Anna Boch, is believed to be the only painting Van Gogh sold during his lifetime.[5] The Anna Boch collection was sold after her death. In her will, she donated the money to pay for the retirement of poor artist friends.[citation needed]
Legacy
[edit]
140 of her own paintings were left to her godchild, Ida van Haelewijn, the daughter of her gardener. Many of these paintings show Ida van Haelewijn as a little girl in the garden. In 1968, these 140 paintings were purchased by her great nephew Luitwin von Boch, the CEO of Villeroy & Boch Ceramics. The paintings remained in the house of Ida van Haelewijn until her death in 1992. The Anna & Eugène Boch Expo opened 30 March 2011.[6]
Some paintings were also donated by Anna Boch's estate to various museums like the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.[7]
Exhibitions about her life and work have been held at the Royal Museum of Mariemont at Morlanwelz, between October at December 2000, at the Vincent van Gogh-huis in Hoogeveen in 2010 and at the Mu.ZEE in Ostend in 2023.[8]
In 2025, some of Boch's paintings were included in the 'Radical Harmony: Helene Kröller-Müller's Neo-Impressionists' exhibition at the National Gallery, London.[9]
Cultural heritage
[edit]In 2005, the Belgian historian Dr Therèse Thomas published a catalogue raisonné.[10]
Gallery
[edit]
Die Wasserträgerin, 33 x 25 cm.
Sur la côte de la Mer du Nord, (1887) 53 x 91 cm.
Femme lisant dans un massif de rhododendrons, (around 1900) 67 x 106 cm.
Vue de Veere, Zélande, (around 1906) 38,5 x 53,5 cm.
Pendant l'élévation, (1879) 74.5 x 113 cm.
Rivages de Bretagne, (around 1901)
Falaise - Côte de Bretagne, 62 x 84 cm.
En Juin, (1894)
Retour de la messe par les dunes.[11]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 Block, Jane; Lee, Ellen Wardwell; Cultuurcentrum, I. N. G.; Art, Indianapolis Museum of (25 March 2014). The Neo-Impressionist Portrait, 1886?1904. Yale University Press. p. 189. ISBN 978-0-300-19084-7.
- 1 2 "Discover painter, art collector Anna Boch". rkd.nl. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
- ↑ "Anna Boch Collection".
- ↑ "5 Things You Should Know About Anna Boch".
- ↑ "History of the Red Vineyard".
- ↑ "Opening of the Anna & Eugene Boch Expo".
- ↑ Gaze, Delia; Mihajlovic, Maja; Shrimpton, Leanda (1997). Dictionary of Women Artists: Introductory surveys; Artists, A-I. Taylor & Francis. pp. 283–4. ISBN 978-1-884964-21-3.
- ↑ "Anna Boch, an impressionist journey".
- ↑ "Radical Harmony: Neo-Impressionists | Exhibitions | National Gallery, London". www.nationalgallery.org.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
- ↑ "Anna Boch : catalogue raisonné". rkd.nl. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
- ↑ Collection de la province de Hainaut (BPS22).
Sources
[edit]- P. & V. Berko, Dictionary of Belgian painters born between 1750 & 1875, Knokke 1981, p. 51.
External links
[edit]
- (in English) Anna Boch.com - includes painting reproductions
- (in French) Newsletter on Anna Boch
- Anna Boch at The Athenaeum
