Pierre Paulus - Le retour du travail - Sold

Etching in black ink of a miner returning from his work in the Borinage in Wallonia, Belgium by the socially engaged artist Pierre Paulus de Châtelet (1881-1959). The towers of the mines are depicted in the background; the original design for the etching is in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Belgium. Titled in pencil "Le retour du travail" lower left and signed in pencil lower right. Not numbered. In the wake of Constantin Meunier, Paulus took his subjects from laborers and miners. In the interwar period he exhibited in various places in Europe and the United States. He drew the design for the Walloon flag in 1913. During the First World War he became a front painter. In 1951 he was raised to the nobility with the title of baron. The Musée des Beaux-Arts in Charleroi has an extensive collection of his work.