Coming from a family of artists, young Raymond became fascinated with the depiction of animals at an early age. After graduating, he meets the animal sculptor Albéric Collin who advises and encourages him to persevere in the field of animal representation.
He then visits the Antwerp Zoo, where he observes animals, analyzes their morphology and posture, sketches them and then converts them into three dimensions, first in a studio in Etterbeek, then, after his marriage, in his home in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert .
A perfectionist at heart, his concern for truthfulness does not lead him to simple photographic accuracy. He transcends these by admirably capturing the quasi-psychological expression of the animal. At the opening of his first exhibition, in March 1927, at the Petite Galerie Avenue Louise in Brussels, the critics were very positive from the outset. They underline the talent of the young artist, his sense of detail. Shortly afterwards, he was co-opted as a member of the Cercle des Beaux-Arts de Liège, an event that crowned his talent and his success.
The year 1930 is a decisive turning point for Raymond de Meester. He is co-opted as a member of the Liège group and exhibits in Ixelles, Namur, Leuven, Mechelen and Brussels. He then received a commission from the Belgian state to embellish the colonial pavilion of the International Exhibition in Antwerp with a fourteen-metre-long bas-relief representing the capture and training of elephants.
The Artistic and Literary Circle of Brussels welcomes him as a member under the patronage of Jean Canneel and Alfred Bastien. Following one exhibition after another (Nice, Paris, Liège, Kaunas, Montréal, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Stockholm, Utrecht, Milan, ...) and orders pour in, especially from abroad. Soon his works can be found in Paris, Lisbon, Oslo, Bueno Aires, Tallinn, Cairo, Mexico City, Bern, Warsaw, Kaunas, Reims, Krakow... and of course Brussels, Liège, Tervuren in the Museum for Central Africa...
In 1939 he produces a monumental polar bear for the Exposition de l'Eau in Liège. In 1958, his Roaring Lion, symbol of triumphant Belgium, graced one of the official entrances to the Brussels World's Fair, before being transferred to the Malou Park the following year. On the threshold of his fiftieth birthday, Raymond de Meester turns to painting.
