Emile Barthelemy Fabry

(Belgian, 1865 – 1966)

Head study

Pastel on paper

Signed ‘Emile Fabry’ (lower left)

15 x 12 in. (38.2 x 30.5 cm.)

Emile Fabry was a highly regarded Belgian symbolist painter who became a refugee in St. Ives during the first world war. This work is a study of a lady from St. Ives during this period. He was commissioned by University College Cardiff to paint two large canvasses ‘War and Peace’ and would later design a victory monument for The Belgian government. A student of Jean-francois Portaels, he is perhaps most famous for the decorative mosaics of the Cinquanteniare of Brussels. He died at the age of 101.