ABSTRACT
King Leopold II was still the reigning monarch of Belgium during the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In fact, with the assistance of the Secretary of State, Baron Edmond van Eetvelde, the king deliberately promoted the development of sculptures in this material, combined with other precious foreign materials, to legitimize colonial policy. Despite some of the king's contested exploitation practices, the exhibition was a grand success. Apart from the king's influence through his colonial policy on the developments of sculpture in Belgium, other political circumstances in the country, such as the rise of socialism, were related to sculptors and their work. During the 1880s, the Belgian labor movement had drawn upon revolutionary actions, such as general strikes and manifestations, in the heavily industrialized parts of Belgium. It may be clear that the development of several sculptures and artistic tendencies, closely associated with the nation's identity, were influenced by contemporary political circumstances.
