Belgian modernism: Jan Cockx
Portrait of Roger Avermaete (1919)
Oil on canvas
183 × 126 cm
©Collectie Provincie Antwerpen, Belgium

Jan Cockx’s large portrait of Roger Avermaete carries the quiet radiance of a moment when Belgian modernism was still young and full of promise. Avermaete (1893–1988), writer, critic, and founder of the avant‑garde group Lumière, sits with a calm, almost luminous presence, as if aware of the cultural shift he was helping to shape. Cockx surrounds him with broad, confident planes of colour—warm ochres, softened reds, and deep greens—that give the figure a gentle monumentality. Cockx dresses him in a sharply cut green suit, its cool tones setting off the warmth of the surrounding colours. The red tie becomes a small but insistent accent, a note of alertness amid the calm of his posture. His hands rest easily in his pockets, giving the portrait a relaxed, almost conversational presence, as if he has just paused mid‑thought. The simplicity of the forms does not flatten him; instead, it lends the portrait a tender clarity, as though Cockx wanted to preserve not just a likeness but the atmosphere of an intellectual friendship at the dawn of a new artistic decade. The background erupts into a mosaic of vivid strokes—reds, blues, yellows, greens—moving like a living field behind him. These abstract shapes do not distract; instead, they seem to pulse gently around the figure, giving him a kind of quiet centrality, as though the world of ideas he inhabited is rendered as pure colour.

Jan Cockx (1891–1976) emerged from the Antwerp Royal Academy with a palette shaped by Matisse and Gauguin, favouring bold colour harmonies and a direct, unpretentious handling of form. In the years around 1919, when this portrait was painted, his work still carried the freshness of early modernism: landscapes, still lifes, and harbour scenes built from clear shapes and a light that feels almost tactile. He moved easily between painting, ceramics, and graphic art, becoming one of the first independent ceramic artists in Flanders, and his early work was met with genuine enthusiasm in Antwerp, Paris, and Geneva. In this portrait, that early clarity is unmistakable: the figure stands firmly against a riot of colour, yet nothing feels chaotic. Cockx balances the energy of the background with the solidity of Avermaete’s stance, creating a harmony that feels both modern and deeply human.

The trajectory of his life, however, was marked by rupture. The economic crisis of the 1930s left him struggling, and in search of stability he became involved with the German Organisation Todt during the Second World War. Organisation Todt was the German state engineering corps responsible for large‑scale construction projects in occupied territories, ranging from roads and fortifications to forced‑labour infrastructure. This association would shadow him for the rest of his life. After the war he found himself isolated from many of his peers, and although he continued to work, the quiet acclaim of his early career never returned. Seen today, the portrait carries a tenderness that feels almost protective. Amid the later turbulence of Cockx’s life, this work preserves a moment of artistic certainty—a friendship rendered in colour, confidence, and quiet admiration.

His later works never received the same acclaim as those created before World War II. Jan Cockx was murdered in his home in Boechout on August 26, 1976. He was found shot at his table, and the case remains unsolved, with no clear motive ever determined.