Pieter Franciscus Dierckx
1871–1950 · Belgian painter, etcher and graphic designer
Pieter Franciscus Dierckx (Antwerp, 1871 – Antwerp, 1950) was a Belgian painter, etcher and graphic designer, trained at the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts. He is best remembered for his work at the drawing academy in Temse, where he became director in 1896 and which, according to the sources, he raised to a higher level.
Alongside teaching, he applied his graphic skills to associations, producing posters and letterheads, and illustrated works such as the "Cancionero de los Estudiantes" (1899). During the First World War he painted scenes of rural life in Temse, such as "La Distribución de sopa" and "El Cestero". His output consists largely of forest landscapes, in which light plays an important role within a neo-Impressionist sensibility. He also worked in historical painting, in the line of Hendrik Leys, and produced two large canvases for the town hall of Lokeren.
After returning to Antwerp in 1919 he opened a studio. With "San Vilebrordo predicando el Evangelio a los ribereños del Escalda" he confirmed his vocation as a history painter. He also treated mythological subjects, such as "Orfeo el cantante melodioso de Tracia", and practised portraiture. His legacy is remembered in Temse, where since 1952 the Academy has awarded a biennial prize in his name, and a street has borne his name since 1986.