Jean-louis ruythoorens 'sun and calabashes' lubumbashi 1972, abstract painting, oil on canvas

Abstract painting by the belgian artist jean-louis ruythoorens in 1972. The work is entitled "soleil & calebasses", it was made in lubumbashi when the artist lived there and was an art professor at the academy of fine arts. Work (oil on canvas) in perfect condition, recently mounted on a frame. Provenance: artist's studio, work brought back in 1974. Biography: jean-louis ruythoorens was born in cuesmes on november 25, 1928, son of fernande noël and albert ruythoorens. He married elisabeth hardy and studied at the academy of fine arts in mons. According to the information available and that confirmed by his family, he stayed in africa from 1953 to 1974. He was first a teacher in stanleyville (now kisangani) from 1953 to 1958. After the death of pierre romain desfossés, founder in the 1940s of the hangar workshop in elisabethville (now lubumbashi), which brought together artists such as bela, pilipili, mwenze kibwanga, mwila and kaballa, the workshop's activity was integrated into the académie des beaux-arts de lubumbashi, created in 1951 by laurent moonens. Pilipili and mwenze kibwanga subsequently taught there, and the management was taken over by claude charlier, a master coppersmith from namur. Jean-louis ruythoorens is said to have taught drawing at this academy from 1959, working alongside pilipili and mwenze kibwanga. Although his name is little known today, he is said to have trained artists such as françois amisi, mode muntu, floribert mwembia, jean bosco kamba, kabuya, ngoie and muvuma. Laurent moonens left the congo in 1960, when it gained independence. Jean-louis ruythoorens died in namur in 2014.