Gisbert Combaz, or Ghisbert Combaz (23 September 1869 – 18 January 1941), was a Belgian painter, lithographer, illustrator, poster artist, furniture designer, sculptor, art educator, art historian and lawyer. He originally trained and practised as a lawyer, but gave up his legal career to dedicated himself to art education and art. He was one of the leading Belgian Art Nouveau artists. Despite his talents as a painter, he is now mainly known for his poster designs and postcards as well as his First World War drawings expressing his hatred for the German occupiers. His work showed a strong influence of his in-depth study of Japanese and Chinese art.
Life
Gisbert Combaz was born in Antwerp as the son of engineering major Paul Combaz and Marie-Amélie Vanden Eynde. His father was an active member of the Société royale d'archéologie de Bruxelles and after retiring as a major, a professor of construction at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. Gisbert studied law at the Université libre de Bruxelles from which he graduated in 1891 with the title of doctor of laws. He practised for a while as a lawyer at the Brussels bar. He gave up his legal career in 1893 to devote himself to art. Before leaving Brussels to seek a teaching position to fund his new career as an artist, he studied briefly at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. He found his first teaching position at the Institute Agricole in Gembloux. Here he worked from 1895 to 1900 as a teacher of drawing for pupils who studied engineering, chemistry and agriculture.
On 16 April 1895, Gisbert Combaz married Marthe Verhas, a daughter of the prominent Realist painter Jan Verhas. From this union were born three children, the architect Jean Combaz born in 1896, Suzanne in 1897 and Denise in 1903.
From 1898 to 1940, he taught decorative arts at the École des arts industriels et décoratifs (School of Industrial and Decorative Arts) of Ixelles. He was appointed professor of art history at the Université Nouvelle (New University, later renamed 'Institut des Hautes Études de Belgique' (Institute of High Studies of Belgium)) in 1905 where he replaced Paul Janson as member of the Steering Committee. On 1 October 1912 he was appointed professor of ornamental composition at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts of Brussels. One of his students was René Magritte.
He was influenced by the work of the Belgian artistic and literary group known as Les XX, one of Europe's most prominent avant-garde circles and a catalyst for the development of Symbolism and Art Nouveau. Combaz exhibited with the group's successor, La Libre Esthétique starting from 1897 and designed many of the exhibition posters of the group. He also participated in group exhibitions of L'Estampe, an artists' association founded at the end of 1906 in Brussels. It brought together graphic artists with the intention of promoting the print medium through exhibitions. Its members included Fernand Khnopff, Auguste Danse, Richard Heinz, Auguste Oleffe, Henry De Groux, Marie Danse, Louise Danse, Georges Lemmen, Richard Baseleer, Willy Finch, Victor Mignot, Gustave-Max Stevens en Henri Meunier. Combaz never did a solo show during his career, and only one brief article about his work was published during his lifetime.
From the late 19th century he gradually developed an interest in the art of the Far East, of which he became an avid scholar. Combaz was first introduced to Oriental art by the Belgian Indologist and scholar of Buddhist Studies Louis de La Vallée-Poussin. Louis de La Vallée-Poussin introduced him to the members of the Société Artistique de Paris who formed the elite of French Orientalism such as Sylvain Lévi, Paul Pelliot, who were later joined by Hac-kin, Jeanine Auboyer and René Grousset. When in 1929 the Institut belge des hautes études chinoises ('Belgian Institute of Advanced Chinese Studies') was founded in Brussels, the founders asked Combaz for his collaboration. He published several of scholarly works in the Institute's publication Mélanges de l'Institut and gave lectures.
In 1934 he founded in Brussels the Belgian Society of Oriental Studies, of which he was the president. The stated aim of the Society was to overcome the shortcomings of official education in Orientalism. He also built a significant collection or Oriental artifacts including Chinese and Japanese ceramics. This inspired him to experimenting himself with artisanal pottery at home.
The artist died in Brussels not long after the start of the Second World War.