A Riot in Brussels
Georges Carrey (Paris, 1902 – Knokke, Belgium 1953)
Watercolour heightened with white chalk
Signed «Carrey»
Circa 1925-1930
37 cm x 26.7 cm (14" 9/16 x 10" 1/2)
With frame : 41 cm x 30.8 cm (16" 1/8 x 12" 1/8)
 
Born in Paris, Carrey settled in Brussels in 1922 where he began to draw illustrations for magazines, posters; for a while he was a commercial artist for an advertising company, he also painted still lives, landscapes, and mostly portraits, the latter earning him a rapid success.
The turmoil of the WW2 brought about Carrey a crisis of conscience.
In search of a new language, a different form of expression, he converted to abstract painting and returned to Paris to free himself from the shackles of figurative painting.
For a while he signed up lessons with André Lhote, he became friends with Nicolas de Stael, Poliakoff, Schneider, Chapoval.
In 1952, he returned to Brussels where he cofounded the group "Art abstrait".
1953: Carrey was on the road to success, he had exhibitions, an art dealer but he died of sudden heart attack.