Early career Albert Servaes was born in
Ghent,
Belgium in a middle class family engaged in retail activities. In line with his family's ambitions, he started his career as a travelling salesman for the family business. This did not stop him from painting from a young age and to look for opportunities to practice his art after working hours. He was mostly self-taught. He moved in 1904 to the rustic village of
Sint-Martens-Latem outside of Ghent. Here, a group of artists, later referred to as the first
Latem School, had already taken up residence. The group included
George Minne,
Gustave van de Woestijne,
Valerius De Saedeleer, and . The first Latem School comprised a group of artists which focused on mystical realism. This was a reaction to the Paris-based Impressionist art that had dominated the painting world for the previous half-century. From 1905 Servaes became interested in religion and mysticism while living in Sint-Martens-Latem and befriended members of a local church community. However, the subtle symbolism of the first
Latem School did not appeal to Servaes and he chose another artistic path. Servaes struggled to live off his paintings early in his career, but he gained fame and recognition in Ghent and Belgium during
World War I. Several of his exhibitions near Ghent solidified his name in the regional art scene and allowed him to become financially secure.
Collaboration with the enemy and flight to Switzerland Before
World War II, Servaes expressed his Flemish-nationalist feelings mainly through his art. He joined
Verdinaso, a right wing authoritarian political party which had grown out of the
Flemish Movement. During the German occupation, he openly showed his pro-German sympathies. He collaborated with the occupier in its control over the cultural life in Belgium. He was chairman of the Oost-Vlaamse Federatie voor Kunstenaars (East Flanders Federation of Artists) and a member of the Nederlandsche Kultuurkamer, an institution set up by the German occupier, which all artists, architects, writers, journalists, musicians, film actors and stage performers had to join in order to be allowed to work. He was also a member of the Duitsch-Vlaamsche Arbeidsgemeenschap (DeVlag) (German-Flemish Labor Community) which in May 1941 was incorporated in the occupier's
SS structures. in 1940 In 1940, he led a delegation of Flemish artists to Germany were they met with the German propaganda minister
Joseph Goebbels. After this trip to Germany, he thanked the "great cultural reformer Dr. Goebbels" in the name of his art brothers. On that occasion, he wished for Flanders "a leader with the genius of an
Adolf Hitler (...) so that the Flemish-national socialist order may come here too". He also attended the German culture days in Cologne in May 1941, along with
August Borms and Rob van Roosbroeck. Whereas in earlier letters he signed 'Heil Dinaso', from September 1941 he ended his letters with 'Heil Hitler'. He further participated in the Flemish-German culture days. He received favourable press releases and was able to participate in group exhibitions in Germany. He also made some clear pro-German statements and linked his art to the cultural propaganda of the
New Order. The first postwar Servaes exhibition to be held in his home country in Bruges caused a stir as Evarist De Buck and some resistance groups protested vehemently against it by reason of the role he had played in the collaboration with the Germans. Servaes became a naturalised citizen of Switzerland. He remained a resident of Lucern in Switzerland for the rest of his life. ==Work==