Lismonde lived in the villa called Les Roches where he spent 50 years of his life with his wife Albertine De Wispelaere (6 August 1908 – 23 October 1997).
Beginnings
Lismonde started drawing as a child, and was brought up in an artistic family that admired the work of Steinlen, Forain and fashionable English drawers.
While a student at the Royal Athenaeum of Brussels, he collaborated to the Pallas review by publishing his drawings and caricatures there.
Since he played the flute, he hesitated between a musical and artistic career, but he settled on the visual arts.
As a young man, as early as 1925, he started painting the Brabantian countryside with painter Edgar Bytebier [fr] (1875-1940).
Career
After practicing oil painting, of which there remain a few examples (portraits, landscapes), he became passionate about drawing in a refined expression in black and white. It was also then that he discovered etching.
In 1934, Jean Groffier [fr] wrote : « As a painter, let it be said, Lismonde was not a colorist. Under the painter's brush, a drawer was hiding. His colour is sad, wary, his effects are gray; but of a delicious melancholy. Actually, the "landscaper" that is Lismonde is one of the most interesting characters of the Belgian visual arts world and whose name will soon cross our borders. ».[4]
Though he did not exactly fit into any artistic "school", he participated in 1945 in the creation of the movement « Jeune Peinture belge [fr] » (lit.'Young Belgian painting') and to the group called « Cap d'Encre ».
Lismonde, portrait by Léon van Dievoet, 4 April 1944.
Lismonde at his home, drawing by Léon van Dievoet, 29 December 1934.
Lismonde in his workshop, drawing by Léon van Dievoet, 4 April 1944.
Lismonde painting with the painters Rachel De Bièvre and, in the foreground, Goda Isgour, sister of the architect Isia Isgour, in Dilbeek, August 20, 1932 (photo by Léon van Dievoet)
From left to right: Jean Callebaut, the architect Léon van Dievoet and Lismonde, in a canoe on Lake Overmeire on September 3, 1933.
Lismonde in his workshop in Moortebeek, November 27, 1933 (photo by Léon van Dievoet).
Lismonde painting in the village of Neylen, April 6, 1936 (photo by Léon van Dievoet).
Lismonde drawing the church of Diest on April 7, 1936 (photo by Léon van Dievoet).
Lismonde painting in the village of Kermt, April 7, 1936 (photo by Léon van Dievoet).
Lismonde painting with the painter Marguerite Antoine on the beach at Nieuport in August 1936 (photo by Léon van Dievoet).
From left to right, Lismonde, the painter Marguerite Antoine and Fernand Cannoot, in Nieuport in August 1936 (photo by Léon van Dievoet).
Lismonde with his friend Jacques de Wouters d'Oplinter (1909-1972) on the Alberville before the latter's departure for the Belgian Congo. Antwerp, December 17, 1937 (photo by Léon van Dievoet).
"Les Roches" in Linkebeek, home of Lismonde and current headquarters of the Lismonde Foundation, drypoint by Léon van Dievoet, 1964.
^Jean Groffier, « Le paysagiste Lismonde », in : Tribune 1934, n° 15, Brussels, September 1934, p. 3. In French : « En tant que peintre, disons-le de suite, Lismonde n'est pas un coloriste. Sous le pinceau du peintre se cache avant tout le dessinateur. Sa couleur est triste, inquiète, ses effets sont gris; mais d'une délicieuse mélancolie. En fait, le paysagiste Lismonde est une des personnalités les plus intéressantes du monde pictural belge et dont le nom dépassera bientôt les limites de nos frontières »
^Serge Goyens de Heusch, Lismonde portraitiste, 2016.
Further reading
1934 : Jean Groffier, « Le paysagiste Lismonde », in Tribune 1934, n° 15, Brussels, September 1934.
1956 : Louis Lebeer, Lismonde, Brussels, 1956.
1961 : K. J. Geirlandt, « Lismonde », in Het 5de wiel, no 4, November–December, 1961.
1983 : Guy Waltenier et Denise Lelarge, « Hommage à Lismonde à l'occasion de son soixante-quinzième anniversaire », in L'Intermédiaire des généalogistes, Brussels, no 223, 1/1983, p. 63-69.
1992 : M. Draguet (under the direction of), Catalogue de l'exposition Lismonde au Centre culturel de la Communauté française Le Botanique, 26 mars/17 mai 1992, Brussels, 1992.
2010 : Karel Logist, « En poésie avec Dr Roberts et M. Jones », in Le Carnet et les Instants, n ° 160, Brussels, February–March 2010, p. 19-20.
2010 : Philippe Roberts-Jones, « LISMONDE », in Nouvelle Biographie nationale, Brussels, Académie Royale de Belgique, volume 10, sub verbo.
2011 : Robert Diederich, « Lismonde, un monde en noir et blanc », in Anderlechtensia, bulletin du Cercle d'Archéologie, folklore et histoire d'Anderlecht, March 2011, n° 139, p. 25-30.
2013 : Daphné Parée, « Lismonde Jules », dans Dictionnaire d'Histoire de Bruxelles, Brussels, 2013, p. 503-504.
2014 : Serge Goyens de Heusch, Lismonde. Catalogue raisonné, Linkebeek, 2014 (avec CD rom).
2016 : Serge Goyens de Heusch, Lismonde portraitiste, publié à l'occasion de l'exposition Lismonde portraitiste présentée à la Maison Lismonde du 10 janvier au 20 mars 2016.
2017 : Serge Goyens de Heusch, Lismonde et Philippe Roberts-Jones : cinquante ans d'amitié, Linkebeek, 2017.
2018 : Serge Goyens de Heusch, Lismonde et l'architecture, Linkebeek, 2018.