Belgian Painters in Texas – Moulckers Collection 4 – Versierde meelzakken in WO I / Sacs à farine décorés pendant la GG / Decorated Flour Sacks from WW I

Even more Belgian artists appear to have painted flour sacks in 1915!
In this blog you will discover fourteen works of art on flour sacks, preserved in Texas, USA, in a private collection. They are part of the Moulckers collection.

*Henri MEUNIER, “River in Hilly Landscape, 1915”. Flour sack Belgian Relief Flour from The Hunter Milling Co. Wellington, Kansas, USA (recto). Private coll. USA*

To my surprise, grandchildren of Captain and Mrs. Albert Moulckers contacted me because they had found my blogs on the internet. They were working on a family tree and were surprised to find the accurate family description online in one of my blogs. Thanks to the research on biographical data conducted by Hubert Bovens in Wilsele, Belgium, in recent years, the family was able to fill several gaps in their family tree.

The Moulckers couple had one son, Francis. He had three sons: Mike (1957), Mark (1959) and Max (1960). They called their grandparents Julienne Moulckers, née Feuillien, and Albert Moulckers “Juju” and “Papy”. After the death of the grandparents and their father, the art collection came into their possession.

Part of the collection of painted flour sacks, 52 pieces, had meanwhile been donated to St. Edwards University, Austin, Texas.

Fourteen artworks on flour sacks in Texas
The family sent me photos of and information on fourteen works of art on flour sacks. The paintings are by the following Belgian artists, in alphabetical order:

Léon BARTHOLOMÉ (°Lille (F) 1868-04-05 +Ieper 1952-02-14)
Joseph Pierre (Jef) CODRON (°Brussels 1882-01-01 +Brussels 1942-09-27)
Léonard DE BUCK (°Ghent 1874-09-06 +Ghent 1954-01-07)
Marie DURAND (°Saint-Croix 1866-09-01 +after 1925-10-18)
Gustave FLASSCHOEN (°Molenbeek-Saint-Jean 1868-05-20 +Brussels 1940-09-03)
Mary GASPAROLI (°Saint-Josse-ten-Noode 1856-08-19 +Woluwe-Saint-Lambert 1933-02-17)
Edmond HAUTEKEET (°Ixelles 1869-07-23 +Knokke 1945-11-11)
Emile HOETERICKX (°Brussels 1853-01-10 +Ixelles 1923-05-19)
Léon HOUYOUX (°Brussels 1856-11-24 +Auderghem 1940-10-10)
Amédée Ernest LYNEN (°Saint-Josse-ten-Noode 1852-06-30 +Brussels 1938-12-28)
Henri MEUNIER (°Ixelles 1873-07+25 +Etterbeek 1922-09-08)
Rodolphe STREBELLE (°Tournai 1880-06-22 +Uccle 1959-05-09)
Jean-Francois TAELEMANS (°Brussels 1851-08-08 +Saint-Gilles 1931-03-31)
Guillaume VAN STRYDONCK (°Namsos, Norway, 1861-12-10 + Saint-Gilles 1937-07-02)

Léon BARTHOLOMÉ, “Breton Interior”. Painted flour sack, 1915. *Private coll. USA*

Jef CODRON, “Soupe Communale Quartier No. 1”. 1915, Brussels. Painted flour sack. *Private coll. USA*

Léonard DE BUCK, “Young soldier salutes, 1914-1915”. Painted flour sack. *Private coll. USA*

Painted flour sack “The Bells of Eppeghem” – Marie Durand

Marie DURAND, “Les Cloches d’Eppeghem, 1915, Brussels”. Painted flour sack. *Private coll. USA*

Marie Durand was a teacher at various girl’s seondary schools in the Brussels agglomeration

Marie Durand’s painted flour sack deserves extra attention.
Marie Louise Laurence Durand worked for 22 years as a teacher at various girl’s secondary schools, the Ecoles Moyennes, in the Brussels agglomeration.
Her own education started at the “Académie des Dames” in Liège. Encouraged by Félicien Rops, Durand continued her drawing studies at the Studio Ernest Blanc Garin in Brussels*) and her training in engraving with the artist Auguste Danse. Durand preferred making portraits and drawings in red chalk.

“Les Cloches d’Eppeghem. Les Deux Amies”, (The Bells of Eppeghem. The Two Friends), 1914 Illustré, December 1914

Les Cloches d’Eppeghem
The “Bells of Eppeghem” by Marie Durand recall the dramatic events during World War I in the Flemish Brabant town of Eppegem, now part of the municipality of Zemst. Houses were burnt to the ground, the church and the town hall were heavily damaged and civilians were killed.
The design executed on the flour sack is copied from a photo that appeared in the December edition of the magazine ‘1914-Illustré’. Félix Ardan wrote the story of the two bells of Eppegem in poetic prose: “Les Deux Amies” (the Two Friends).

Gustave FLASSCHOEN, “Guide – Belgian Cavalier on horseback, 1915”. Painted flour sack. *Private coll. USA*

Mary GASPAROLI, “Bouquet of Poppies, Daisies and Cornflowers”. Painted flour sack “A.B.C.” *Private coll. USA*

Edmond HAUTEKEET, Bouquet of pink roses, “Remember Brussels – August 4, 1915”. Flour sack “Cascadia”, Portland Flouring Mills, Portland, Oregon, “A.B.C.” *Private coll. USA*

Emile HOETERICKX, “From a Grateful Belgian, 1915”. Painted flour sack. *Private coll. USA*

Léon HOUYOUX, “Bread Girl”, Auderghem, (Belgium). Painted flour sack, 1915. *Private coll. USA*

Amédée Ernest LYNEN, “In Flanders”, 1915. Painted flour sack. *Private coll. USA*

Henri MEUNIER, “Hill landscape with river, 1915”. Flour sack Belgian Relief Flour from The Hunter Milling Co. Wellington, Kansas, USA (verso). *Private coll. USA*

Rodolphe STREBELLE. “Eating by the water”. Flour sack “Cascadia”, Portland Flouring Mills, Portland, Oregon (recto). *Private coll. USA*

François TAELEMANS, “Water Mill”. Drawing on flour sack, 1915. *Private coll. USA*

Guillaume Van Strydonck, “Stock Exchange, Brussels, 1914-1915”. Painted flour sack. *Private coll. USA*

Edouard Feuillien art collection
Edouard Feuillien, Julienne’s father – great-grandson Mike knew him as “BooBoo” – had been managing director of the Cercle Artistique et Littéraire in Brussels. He received official permission from the Belgian Minister of Science and the Arts to export his art collection from Brussels to the United States. In total, this involved around 500 works of art. The export document is in the family archive.

Painted flour sacks from WWI were thus only a small, but for my research into WWI Decorated Flour Sacks, extremely significant part of the art collection.

Rodolphe STREBELLE. “Eating by the water”. Flour sack “Cascadia”, Portland Flouring Mills, Portland, Oregon (verso). *Private coll. USA*

Thanks to:
– Michael Moulckers for the photos of and information on the decorated flour sacks in the Moulckers collection;
– Hubert Bovens in Wilsele, for the biographical research on the artists.

Sources:
*) Studio Ernest Blanc-Garin:
Wiertz, Wendy, From drawing manual to academy. The training of Brussels 19^th-century female amateur artists pertaining to the nobility. Brussels Studies (Online), Article nr. 166, 2022

The links to my previous blogs about the painted flour sacks in the “Moulckers Collection” can be found here:

Beschilderde meelzakken in de ‘Moulckers Collection’ 1 (Painted Flour Sacks in the “Moulckers Collection” 1)
The Captain and Mrs. Albert Moulckers Collection 2
Meelzakken van Belgische schilders in San Francisco – Moulckers Collection 3 (Flour Sacks of Belgian Painters in San Francisco – Moulckers Collection 3)