Willem Delsaux, Portrait of an Indian Soldier, Large Pastel, 1918, Framed

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Willem DELSAUX
Ixelles 1862 - 1954 Grimbergen

Profile portrait of Allah Dita, Indian soldier of the British Indian colonial army
… Read more Willem DELSAUX
Ixelles 1862 - 1954 Grimbergen

Profile portrait of Allah Dita, Indian soldier of the British Indian colonial army
Pastel on paper
Signed lower right, dated 1918 and located in Charleroi lower left, framed
66 x 46 cm sheet
81 x 64 cm framed
Beautiful Degas type frame from the 1900s

Very good condition

Willem Delsaux is a Belgian painter, engraver, lithographer and ceramist mainly known for his urban views and landscapes of the North Sea in the years 1880-1900.
Like Emile Claus, the main representative of the Belgian Luminist movement, he is particularly fond of the medium of pastel for its ability to restore the subtle effects of light and atmosphere to capture all their spontaneities.
In the 1900s, he shared a studio in Brussels with the painters Henry de Groux and William Degouve de Nuncques, other talented pastellists. Subsequently, he became interested in decorative arts and particularly in ceramics, in which he became an important player by publishing numerous manuals and works. The First World War interrupted his activity and at the end he became a professor at the University of Charleroi where he taught decorative arts, drawing, painting and ceramics.
He is a member of the artistic associations “L’Essor”, “Les Indépendants”, “L’Estampe” and “l’Union des Arts”.


Our pastel represents an Indian soldier named “Allah Dita”, probably Muslim or Sikh by the presence of his turban and originally from the Punjab region. This region provides many soldiers to the contingent of the British Indian Colonial Army.
Many Indian soldiers died on the battlefields of Belgium and Northern France during the Great War, deaths linked, for the most part, to unsuitable equipment and little - or even non-existent - preparation for trench and artillery warfare.
The high quality of this pastel, drawn on the motif with dimensions on a human scale, as well as the rarity of the subject make it a truly remarkable work. This piece has an attribution mark,
I am sure that it is completely authentic and take full responsibility for any authenticity
issues arising from misattribution See less