Religious design from the interwar period

Our collections manager Ko Goubert is working on an artistic-biographical study of the oeuvre of Dom Martin OSB (1889-1965), a monk from the Keizersberg Abbey in Leuven who was active internationally as a silversmith and designer.

The study also examines the position of the church's applied arts within the artistic and liturgical renewal trends during the interwar period. It is closely linked to M's large subcollection of religious art and will contribute in particular to the knowledge of the subcollections of 20th-century applied arts, graphic arts and painting.

This doctorate is the result of the exhibition M 'Silver: Art, Object, Story' (2015). It has already led to several acquisitions for the M Collection - such as an exceptional chalice ensemble by Dom Martin (long-term loan from the King Baudouin Foundation, 2017) and donations of liturgical objects by Dom Martin, Jean Ausloos and Devroye Freres (2021).

Ko Goubert's doctoral research at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel is done with the generous cooperation of the Keizersberg Abbey and sits within the research groups VISU - Histories of Art, Architecture & Visual Culture and ThIS - The Inside Story. Art, Interior & Architecture 1750-1950.