The late Jan Hoet may have been part firebrand and part enfant terrible, but he was wholly dedicated to the promotion, curation and exhibition of art. “He was a controversial, very loud, fearless man, and he went through life like a speed train,” is how Flemish director Luc Vrydaghs described him during his onsite pitch for the new feature-length documentary Jan Hoet – The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, whose Belgian premiere is set in stone. February 27 2024, the 10th anniversary of Hoet’s death.
Not only did Hoet have a great eye, he had progressive proletarian tendencies and was determined to bring the art to the people as much as have it contained within stuffy museums and galleries. “He was not the great intellectual type. He was the man who worked from his gut feeling and had a very good nose for art. He could smell a good piece of art from a distance,” said Vrydaghs.
But he also wielded a great power. “He was universally called the Art Pope because his power could lift artists to a dizzy height or bring them crushing down,” Vrydaghs added. “He had many friends, but also very many enemies as well.”
Core to Hoet’s identity as a connoisseur was Jan van Eyck’s masterpiece, The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, which resides in his home town of Ghent. “Everybody who came to Ghent had to see the painting,” Vrydaghs claimed of the 14-panel altarpiece in the city’s cathedral. “If you didn’t see the Mystic Lamb, ‘you couldn’t talk about art,’ he used to say.”
“The [altar]piece is a mosaic of biblical stories and characters. It is full of mysticism and symbolism and sins and virtues, a lot of the elements and contrasts you also find in the life of Jan Hoet,” added Vrydaghs of its thematic significance. “Therefore, the painting will take a very important role in this film…so I want to scan the painting and put it over on top of Jan, connected with his life and with his person, not only by making visual associations, but also blending or contrasting his details.”
Producer Hans Everaert (Menuetto Film) pointed out that shooting on the €500,000 doc would continue to Summer 2023 and that he hopes to present the film at Berlin 2024, a city with which Hoet had a “strong link.” Sixty per cent of the budget is secured and the producer was in Antwerp looking for pre-sales, sales agents, distributors, streamers and broadcasters.
During his pitch Vrydaghs further pointed out (and demonstrated in his teaser) that, like the altarpiece, the film will be split-screen and fragmented, and with archive featuring top international artistic talents such as Marina Abramovic.
The production team is also determined to examine the current state of art and its representation. “Philosophers, sociologists and art students will also to look into the role of the curatorship today. So the film…will bring Jan’s entire world back to life, his talents, but also his faults, his charismatic, yet dominant presence. At the same time, the film offers a fascinating journey into art history, from the iconic medieval masterpiece to the world of modern art then and today.”
