Born in Mechelen, a famous centre for furniture making, Wijnants began his career in this local industry. Furnished with this foundation in carving, he followed his ambition to become an independent artist by enrolling in the Mechelen Academy of Fine Art and later in the Brussels Academy where he studied under Charles Van der Stappen.  At the 1913 World Fair in Ghent Wijnants exhibited Echo, his first work to show a truly original style which combines something of the modernism of George Minne with a delicacy of line and concentration on the feminine beauty of his model.  This genre continued with the series of nudes he made for Frédéric Speth in which the range of his inspiration from classical Greek sculpture to European Gothic becomes ever more apparent.  Through the 1920s and 1930s Wijnants established himself as one of the prime exponents of Belgian sculpture, leading to teaching positions in Antwerp, and, in 1938, was awarded the State prize for Sculpture and the Plastic Arts.

This object is part of "Scan The World". Scan the World is a non-profit initiative introduced by MyMiniFactory, through which we are creating a digital archive of fully 3D printable sculptures, artworks and landmarks from across the globe for the public to access for free. Scan the World is an open source, community effort, if you have interesting items around you and would like to contribute, email stw@myminifactory.com to find out how you can help.

Scanned : Photogrammetry (Processed using Agisoft PhotoScan)