Roger Somville

Roger Somville (Schaerbeek, 13 November 1923 – Tervuren, 31 March 2014) was a modern Belgian painter. He defended realism against modern abstract art, which he believed de-humanize human beings.

In his book, ''Peindre'', he denounces among other things; "tricks in the shape of art", "empty productions", "triumph of less than nothing", "null simplism", "aesthete ''bricolage''", "conformity of what's never been seen" and (the) "submissiveness of the modern art in a globalized market" ...

Somvile was a member of the Communist Party and accordingly wrote "''La Création d’un art public exaltant la vie et le travail des hommes, leurs luttes, leurs souffrances, leurs joies, leurs victoires et leurs espoirs; art à placer à la portée de tous, là où passent et vivent les hommes''". ("The Creation of a public art praising men's life and work, their fights, their griefs, their joys, their victories, and their hopes; an art made for everybody to carry it there where men pass and live.")

The entry in the ''LAROUSSE Grand Dictionnaire Encyclopédique'' describes Somville as "A Belgian Painter of an expressive and monumental style, concerned by the realities of the contemporary world." Provided by Wikipedia