Pol De Mont

After finishing his secondary education in a French-speaking school in Ninove, Pol De Mont studied at the minor seminary in Mechelen. He was a passionate flamingant and together with Jan de Block he founded the Flemish circle of pupils The young language friends in May 1874. They published the collection Literary contributions, Our daybreak which consisted of contributions by their members and renowned Flemish writers such as Guido Gezelle, Jan R. Snieders en Servaas Daems. De Mont worked in close collaboration with the West-Flemish students including Zeger Maelfait, Amaat Vyncke and Albrecht Rodenbach. He befriended Albrecht Rodenbach and while studying at the Leuven university he founded Het Pennoen. He was an engaged member of the student society Met Tijd en Vlijt. In 1880 he published the collection Poems, which was granted the Five-yearly State Prize for Flemish Literature. He then started teaching at the athenaeum in Doornik and later on in Antwerp. In 1888 he started the Volkskunde magazine which is still published today. In 1904 he was appointed curator of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. He was one of the co-founders of the magazine De Vlaamse Gids in 1905. He resigned from curatorship in 1905 after being accused of activism by the press. After that he became chief editor of the Flemish-minded newspaper De Schelde. Among his collaborators were Paul van Ostaijen and Alice Nahon. He published several poetry collections as well as folk tales, fairy tales and biographies on Flemish artists.