Nojorkam - "Gondola...?"

Nojorkam "Gondola" 1975
Painter, draftsman, humanist, poet, writer. Norbert Joris Kamiel Schepens (the first letters of his first names form his pseudonym) was born in Ghent in 1911 in Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat. Later he lived at Annonciadenstraat 28 and Zandpoortstraat 35. In 1998 he moved to Wachtebeke. His father Octaaf Guillaume was a butcher and twice winner of the Belgian rowing championships. He is the brother of Jan Norbert Octaaf Schepens (Ghent 1905), man of letters. His grandfather Georges Felix was a painter, orchid hunter and explorer; he left for Charleroi in 1905. Nojorkam studied at the Ghent Academy, where he was a stubborn student of Coddron; at the University of Groningen in art history and also for a year (1936) at the Sorbonne, making him one of the rare painters with a university education. He made his debut in literature with poems, which Marnix Gijsen did not find great, but: “if Schepens has talent, this must be sought in the ironic genre”. As a writer, he was also an engraver, illustrator, bookbinder and book illuminator. He illustrated his four collections of poems, just like those of his brother Jan, with linocuts. He also published a collection, “Ahasuerus” in which not a single word appears, only woodcuts. He also illustrated publications by Clément Morray, Paul De Ryck, Maurice De Doncker, Marcel De Backer and Charles d'Ydewalle. He published in “De Tijdstroom” and “Klaverendrie” and his poems were included in the anthologies of Victor Van Vriesland and in Flemish verses of this time by R. Herreman and M. Gijsen. In 1973 he published “Les poèmes du Chantoux”, an anthology of his poems from the period 1940-1970. Personally, we met the man several times in the 60s and 70s and I remember him always commenting, seemingly indifferently, with an ironic smile on everything I said. Marnix Gijsen had indeed seen that correctly. He himself was the founder and chairman of a company that is unknown to me called “Institut pour le redressement des arts classiques” or IRAC, where he walked around in a white short skirt to imitate the ancient Greeks. Did the ancient Greeks walk around in a short white skirt? Without saying it out loud, but still as a kind of revenge, I accused him of partly ruining many of his large landscapes by drawing little boys. In addition to poems, he also wrote novels, essays, travel stories and art critical contributions, which appeared in “De Vlaamse Gids”. “L'Amphitrite de Milos” appeared in 1938, “Retour d'Italie” in 1948. “Les Atlantides" are three works that appeared in 1956-1961, “Eventail espagnol” appeared in 1952. They were published abroad, among others by Ernst Jünger, flatteringly reviewed. He published “Nous, Grecs” in 1966; “Fleurs de Flandre” in 1975. He also contributed to magazines such as “De Toerist” and newspapers such as “La Flandre libérale” with the Ghent public. Nojorkam was better known as a painter, draftsman, lino cutter and illustrator. He also worked for some time (1933-1935) as a draftsman at the medical faculty with Dr. L. Elaut and drew dialect maps for Prof. Willem Pee in 1935-1937 From 1940 to 1951 he taught painters from the Latem School. He made numerous trips to Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain and the Scandinavian countries. For a long time, passionately fascinated by the civilizations of the Far East, he mainly painted classical works paintings: landscapes, genre paintings and portraits. He followed the established line and did not deviate from it: he clearly showed his need for universality and synthesis. Critics called his painting eclectic and intellectualistic. He hated -isms. In 1945, after the end of the Second World War, he was seduced by the sea. That year also became the year of sea and undersea views, shells and aquariums. Later he gave his special view of the Lys region, the Italian cities and landscapes, the flower world and sunny Spain. He regularly exhibited in the “Cercle Artistique et Littéraire”, “Galerij Vyncke-Van Eyck” and “Studio van Eyck” on the Kalandenberg. In 1952 he had a major exhibition in the Brussels “Palace of Fine Arts”. In 1955 he introduced ikebana in Belgium. In 1971 he held his sixtieth exhibition in Toledo, Spain. In the Rubens Year 1977 he exhibited a series of large and small paintings and a number of drawings, all copies of Rubens. In the manuscript room 414 from the Ghent university library is a very beautiful and large album “Nojorkam” in which almost all of his life (photos, drawings, newspaper clippings, letters, invitations to exhibitions, art criticism, settlements with publishers, etc.) is brought together. Literature Nojorkam, a hymn to life and nature, a critical anthology by 50 authors. Gallery of complete artists, composed at the 60th anniversary of the artist. Daniel Van Ryssel