Theo Humblet was born in Leuven in 1919. Dividing his education between the Academy in Leuven and the Sint-Lukas School of Arts in Schaerbeek, in Brussels, he developed a wide array of skills: painting, graphic design, woodcarving, illustration, sculpture and ceramics. To round off his training, Humblet travelled considerably, exposing himself to other art forms and traditions. He travelled to Yugoslavia, Japan, Mexico and Spain, among other destinations. In 1946, he was awarded the Rome Prize, which allowed him to travel to the Italian capital for artistic research. From 1959 to 1979, he was director of the Academy in Leuven, where he had previously studied.
Artistically, his style evolved from a neo-impressionist approach – commonly adopted throughout his generation and region – towards expressionism before turning to a more constructivist poetic symbolism. Thematically, these successive aesthetics have served to depict imagined portraits, specifically of female figures. Instead of leaning towards a freer use of line and colour, Humblet went in the opposite direction, finding meaning and inspiration in tradition and emphasising the narrative elements of his work.
Humblet recently re-entered Leuven’s artistic conversation when a mural of his was rediscovered at the site of a property development project called ‘The View’. The project planned to convert an old fire station into 160 apartments, 16 social housing units and 16 town houses. During the demolition process, a 6.5 metre tall and 2.5 metre wide mural by Humblet entitled The Meeting of Ulysses and Nausikaä was uncovered. It was quickly decided that the artwork should be extracted using the ‘strappo’ technique, which is controversial owing to its popularity among art thieves. Local politicians, alongside the architect and developer, searched for a way of allowing the mural to be prominently displayed in the newly constructed project, to connect the inhabitants of Leuven with a piece of the city’s heritage.
Humblet passed away in 2006.
