As the daughter of Marie Huber and Joseph Brincour, Luxembourg lawyer and Member of Parliament, Berthe Brincour grew up in Luxembourg City. Unusual for the time, the female art enthusiast studied painting and drawing from 1899 to 1905. She received her artistic education at one of only three German Ladies’ Academies at the time, namely the Damen-Akademie des Künstlerinnen-Vereins in Munich. From 1903 to 1907, she lived in Dachau, a period corresponding with the heyday of the artist colony there. Unwell, she lived in Geneva from latest 1919 to 1924 at least and in Lausanne from 1931 to 1934. It remains uncertain whether she created or exhibited works there. Between 1931 and 1934, the artist concurrently lived and exhibited in Paris. From 1935 to 1941, she lived solely in Paris. Brincour returned to her native country in 1940 or 1941 and lived there until her death in 1947.

Her most important means of artistic expression were ink drawing and painting. Among the most represented genres in her oeuvre are flower still lifes, landscapes and different representations of humans (male and female nudes, single and group portraits, anatomical-like studies). Reoccurring themes are the Alps, nature, storms as well as human relations and psychology.

Her ink drawings are predominantly black and white, with occasional shades of red. Concise lines executed in a repetitive manner create their dynamism. Brincour was influenced by Japanese woodprints and her works further reveal influence from Impressionism, Expressionism, Symbolism and Surrealism. Moreover, her expressive paintings are composed of a rich colour palette that Brincour introduces symbolistically (Bisdorff 36).

According to the current state of research, Brincour’s works were shown in two solo exhibitions in Luxembourg (1917) and Paris (1928) during her lifetime. The Musée national d’histoire et d’art (today Nationamusée um Fëschmaart) in Luxembourg exhibited her art in a monographic exhibition immediately after her death in 1947. The painter and draughtsman participated above all in group shows, both in Luxembourg and abroad. Among the most important exhibitions are the Salons du Cercle Artistique de Luxembourg (CAL) (seven times between 1906 and 1924), the 1910 World Exhibition in Brussels, her participation at the Salons des Indépendants in Paris (six or seven times between 1931 and 1938) and the show Exposition internationale d'art moderne: peinture, sculpture, etc. in Geneva in 1920/21, where her works were shown alongside those of some of the most influential European artists of the 20^th century, such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), or Swiss national painter Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918), Georges Braque (1882-1963) or Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978). Brincour’s participation at the Salon des Tuileries in Paris is yet to be proven.

She bequeathed most of her works, preparatory studies as well as her collection of art, furniture and medals to the MNAHA.

Brincour became a member of the Künstlerinnen-Verein in Munich, most likely from 1899 to 1905. She was also a member of the CAL in Luxembourg, supposedly from 1906 onwards. In 1930 or 1931, she became a member of the Société des Artistes Indépendants in Paris. It remains unclear whether she was a member of an artists’ society associated with the Salon des Tuileries.

Furthermore, art historian Heidrun Kurz argues that Brincour’s style and themes reflect those of the Swiss national painter Ferdinand Hodler (1853 – 1918). The latter exhibited in Munich in 1906 and his works were nearby omnipresent in Switzerland. Brincour’s ink drawings from the 1930s have received the most art historical attention. They have been read as expressions of the artist’s inner state (Walentiny 4). Accordingly, critic Jos Walentiny interpreted Brincour's stylistic and thematic choices as a projection of her troubled soul, fears and illness (4). Likewise, author Georgette Bisdorff claims her works to be psychoanalytic studies (36). Concerning her paintings, art historian Linda Eischen analysed that the painter erased any eroticism in the naked appearance of those portrayed (16). Interestingly, an anonymous critic compared Brincour’s creations to American art after having visited her Parisian solo exhibition (4). Moreover, the inclusion of her works in a number of past exhibitions aiming at providing an overview of Luxembourg art history suggests that her art is innovative.

Brincour’s oeuvre further shows stylistic and thematic influences from the abovementioned Künstlerinnen-Verein, such as the works by Hedwig Weiß (1860 – 1923), Cornelia Paczka (1864 – 1943?), Rose Plehn (1865 – 1945) or Käthe Kollwitz (1867 – 1945).

Works Cited

"Berthe Brincour." Journal des débats politiques et littéraires 05.12.1928 :  4. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k505709z/f4.item.zoom. Web. Accessed 12.01.2022.

Bisdorff, Georgette. "La Collection Luxembourgeoise du Musée National d'Histoire et d'Art. Berthe Brincour“ Ons Stad 69 (2002) : 36-37. Print.

Eischen, Linda. "Les femmes dans l'art luxembourgeois." Ons Stad 77 (2004): 16. Print.

Kurz, Heidrun. "Brincour, Berthe." Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon - Internationale Künstlerdatenbank - Online: Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon Online, Wolf Tegethoff, Bénédicte Savoy and Andreas Beyer (eds.). Berlin, New York: K. G. Saur, 2009. https://www-degruyter-com.proxy.bnl.lu/database/AKL/entry/_30064419/html.Web. Accessed 13.01.2022.

Kögel, Linda. (ed.). Zum holländischen Fest des münchener Künstlerinnen-Vereins am 9. Februar 1899. München: n. k. , 1899. https://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/0010/bsb00104499/images/index.html?id=00104499&groesser=&fip=eayaqrsweayaenfsdrxdsydxseayayztsw&no=1&seite=3. Web. Accessed 25.01.2022.

Walentiny, Jos. "Berthe Brincour et Sosthène Weis dans la Galerie d'Art Municipale à Esch-s.-Alz." Luxemburger Wort 29.03.1966: 4. Print.

Boser, Elisabeth. Künstlerkolonie Dachau : Blütezeit 1880 Bis 1920. Fischerhude: Atelier Im Bauernhaus, 2013. Print.

Zwank, Edmond. Le Cercle Artistique De Luxembourg. 1893-1993. S.l.: [s.n.], 1993, p. 318. Print.