Early life and education

Delhez was one of seven children. He studied at Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts from 1916-1918 and at the University of Leuven from 1918–1923, graduating as an agronomist with chemistry as his primary subject.

Career

Delhez began exhibiting caricatures and surrealist work while in college. Taking up a role as manager of his family's car company, he continued his artistic interests, publishing a series of prints in 1925.

In 1925, Delhez's parents died in a road accident. He left his job as manager of his father's motorcar company and moved to Argentina, working as a draughtsman, architect and contractor in Buenos Aires from 1926–1933. He then moved to Bolivia, before moving back to Argentina in 1940. He settled in Chacras de Coria and took a post as professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, National University of Cuyo.

While in Bolivia, Delhez produced a set of forty illustrations for the Gospels, and twenty-one for Lord Dunsany's "A Dreamer's Tales", while in correspondence with the author. The Gospel woodcuts are notable for using South American settings for the illustrations.

Delhez became better known from the 1930s, with what is considered to be his best work beginning during his time in Bolivia. His major themes included the Gospels and the Book of Apocalypse, illustrations for various literary works including books by Dostoevsky and Baudelaire, a series of woodcuts entitled Architecture and Nostalgia, the Dance of Death series, illustrations for Juan Draghi Lucero's "Las Mil y Una Noches Argentinas" (One Thousand and One Argentinian Nights), portraits and self-portraits, and abstract works including the so-called Bagatelle-Linos. He was exhibited, either alone or in conjunction with other artists, in Europe, the United States, Canada, South and Central America, and Japan, including cities such as Brussels (his sisters arranging a show of his "A Dreamer's Tales" works), Antwerp (Plantin-Moretus), at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Victor Delhez tended to produce short runs from his blocks, often eight copies of each print labeled as artist's proofs, which has left some of his work scarce in original form. Many of his works were intended for use as illustrations for literary works and are commonly known in their published format. A mid-1950s catalog of his work prepared in conjunction with an exhibit of his works in Breda, Netherlands includes more than 900 items, with an unknown number of additional works prepared during the final decades of his life. The catalog organizes Delhez's woodcuts into thematic categories.