Khnopff

Khnopff - F.K., ‘Studio-Talk Brussels’. The Studio, 62, 254 (June 1914), 72-75    

 https://dlib.bc.edu/islandora/object/bc-ir:107207/datastream/OBJ/view 

In the forefront of those artists whose work in this branch has not already been dealt with in the articles in the Special numbers of THE STUDIO, we must mention De Bruycker, Delstanche, Mignot and Duriau. The contributions of the Ghent etcher, De Bruycker, were remarkable. “His large plate Sous le château des Comtes à Gand” wrote the regular critic of l'Art Moderne, “is one of his most surprising and most impressive achievements. With this amazingly gifted artist his handling of the medium has rapidly increased in dexterity, up to such a point as to become concealed; it disappears beneath the impression which emanates from the work as a whole, and one forgets to scrutinise the technique in complete abandonment to the extraordinary charm which radiates from these strange and moving compositions.” De Bruycker seems at times to draw inspiration from the picturesque romanticism of Gustave Doré, and in his way of magnifying portions of architecture he adopts something of the Brangwyn manner, but by his own natural gifts this Ghent artist dominates these reminiscences and his individuality seems to be more apparent in each successive work.  

Bruges le Morte (Rodenbach)

Bruges La Morte  - Khnopff

This is the book most often taken as the starting point for novels illustrated with photographs. At the least, it could have supplied Breton with the idea of deserted streets for the novel Nadja, and it echoes in Sebald’s sense of wandering, anomie, and mourning. (Although it needs to be said there is no proof that Breton knew Rodenbach’s book in its original version, with photographs instead of drawings; see my remarks in the text on Breton.) There is a family resemblance of images and themes in Bruges-la-morte, Nadja, and Vertigo or Rings of Saturn: their relation is close for books separated—in the case of Sebald and Rodenbach—by over a hundred years. 

Even books like Orhan Pamuk’s Istanbul seem to show Rodenbach’s influence: Pamuk writes nostalgically about the yalıs, Ottoman wood-frame buildings that were still common in Istanbul when he was growing up, and he illustrates Istanbul with photographs of yalıs. Many images are of nearly or completely deserted streets and waterways, as in Breton, as in Rodenbach.

http://writingwithimages.com/georges-rodenbach-bruges-la-morte/