Georges de Feure

Son of a Dutch architect father and a Belgian mother, the designer, painter, and printmaker Georges de Feure was born and died in Paris. De Feure is a lesser-known Symbolist artist, but his work is highly characteristic of the movement—not only in its focus on feminine themes (particularly the femme fatale) but also in its wide range of media. The de-hierarchization of art was a major theme in 1890s France, with calls for equal recognition of art forms that had previously been considered subservient to painting, sculpture, and architecture. Jewelry, furniture, posters, enamels, textiles, metalwork, and other so-called “applied” or “decorative” arts now burst into view, with their practitioners eager to claim their equal place beside the traditional fine arts. De Feure manifested artistic versatility in this same spirit, creating not just paintings but posters, prints, and illustrations, as well as designs for costumes and interior decoration. He was one of the artists chosen to design rooms for Siegfried Bing’s pavilion at the Universal Exposition of 1900, a landmark of Art Nouveau style.