Today I've visited Sint-Martens-Latem in Belgium, home to an artist's colony from 1900 - 1930. The Gaevert Minne Municipal Museum shows work by the key artists from the two groups that settled here (including Albert Servaes), with a particular focus on the work of George Minne and Edgar Gevaert. Work by artists from the colony can also be found at Sint Martinuskerk as well as older and more contemporary works. Most movingly, the church has an image of Christ by Servaes. A set of Stations of the Cross by Servaes provoked uproar when placed in a chapel at Luythagen in 1919 and was subsequently removed following a decree from the Holy Office, the first modern condemnation of art in the name of canon law (a decree which was later repeated on the same grounds in regard to the crucifix created by Germaine Richier for the Church at Assy). Given this experience for Servaes (his own taste of the rejection inherent in the crucifixion), it was moving to find his work affirmed and shown in the church at Latem. The neighbouring church of Sint Aldegondiskerk also had a similar range of work, including contemporary glass by
Ingrid Meyvaert.
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