Maurice Sys

Gent 1880 – 1972

Maurice Sys was a student of Louis Tytgat at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent; he also got a degree National Higher Institute for Fine Arts in Antwerp. From 1909 until 1913 he lived in the former studio of Valerius de Saedeleer.
He then changed the studio for a houseboat, which he named ‘’t Nest’. He would live there for ten years – the war years included – and would sail along the streams and rivers of Flanders, the Netherlands and France. In 1923 he re-established in Ghent. Sys belonged to the second Group of Latem along with Léon and Gustave De Smet, Constant Permeke and Fritz van den Berghe.
He first exhibited in 1907 at the Cercle Artistique et Littéraire of Ghent with Valerius De Saedeleer and Gustaaf Van de Woestyne. Sys painted mainly Leie views, fishing boats and small harbours, domestic scenes and portraits. His art is characterised by a delicate colouring and technical mastery.