Duhem, Paul

Education: read and write.
Profession/occupation: farm hand.
Art form/medium: painting; series of (self-)portraits, houses and doors.
Start artwork: 1989, age 70.
Relevant info: hard times in WWII; 1978 hospitalized in La Pommeraie Centre in Ellignies-Ste Anne.
(Solo-) exhibitions: 2004 Duhem Paul. Retrospective 1919-1999, Brussels, Art en Marge.
References:  Duhem Paul. Retrospective, Brussels (Art en Marge) 2004. / Gérard, Bruno, 25 Artistes du centre La Pommeraie, Brussels 2000. /
Outsider Art Source Book, (Raw Vision) 2016, p.96 / 2009, p. 68.

Paul Duhem was born in a little Belgian village, just yards from the French border. Son of an unmarried mother, he was unaccepted. Around 13 he left school to work on farms around Tournai. The region suffered severely during occupation time. Duhem worked in Germany, was locked up as a collaborator afterwards. Because he was not in full possession of his faculties, he was transferred to a psychiatric hospital and was put to work on farms. In 1978 he entered La Pommeraie, from 1990 he has visited the workshop for daily painting. He has two subjects: doors (houses) and portrait buste.

Paul Duhem
1919 Blandain, Belgium - 1999 Ellignies-Ste Anne, Belgium