ALECHINSKY Pierre

Pierre ALECHINSKY, born on October 19, 1927 in Schaerbeek (Brussels), is a painter and engraver who combines expressionism and surrealism in his work. He is the father of the poet Ivan Alechine and the sculptor Nicolas Alquin.

Pierre Alechinsky's father is a Russian Jew and his mother is Walloon. Both are doctors. In the 1930s, Alechinsky studied at the Decroly school in Brussels. The left-handed child was forced to write with his right hand. Educators allowed him to use his left hand, his better hand, for "less important" tasks: drawing...

From 1944 to 1948, he studied book illustration, typography, printing techniques, and photography at the National School of Architecture and Visual Arts La Cambre in Brussels. It was during this period that he discovered the work of Henri Michaux, Jean Dubuffet, and the surrealists. He met and befriended the art critic Jacques Putman, who wrote extensively about his work. He began painting in 1947 and was part of the Young Belgian Painting group, which included Louis Van Lint, Jan Cox, and Marc Mendelson.

Pierre Alechinsky quickly became a major figure in the Belgian art world after the war. He founded the Ateliers du Marais with Olivier Strebelle and Michel Olyff in a communal house. After meeting the poet Christian Dotremont, one of the founders of the CoBrA group (a movement created in 1948, bringing together artists from Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam advocating a return to a more provocative, aggressive, and daring art), he joined this avant-garde artistic movement in 1949, alongside Karel Appel, Constant, Jan Nieuwenhuys, and Asger Jorn. He immediately participated in the "First International CoBrA Exhibition" at the Stedelijk Museum.

During the brief existence of the group, he was heavily involved, organizing exhibitions such as the "Second International CoBrA Experimental Art Exhibition" at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels (1951) and contributing to the publication of the "CoBrA" magazine. The crucial role that the CoBrA movement played for him was as much about the people involved as the ideas defended: unrestrained spontaneity in art, leading to a rejection of pure abstraction and "socialist realism," and a refusal of specialization.

After the dissolution of the CoBrA group, whose spirit he continued (he once said, "CoBrA is my school"), Pierre Alechinsky settled in Paris, where he associated with the surrealists. He furthered his training as an engraver and learned new techniques at Atelier 17, directed by Stanley Hayter. It was during this time, from 1952 onwards, that he befriended Alberto Giacometti, Bram van Velde, Victor Brauner, and began a regular correspondence with the Japanese calligrapher Shiryu Morita from Kyoto.

In 1954, he met the Chinese painter Walasse Ting, who had a significant influence on the evolution of his work.

That same year, Alechinsky held his first solo exhibition at the Nina Dausset gallery in Paris. His first major exhibition was organized in 1955 at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. In 1958, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London showcased his works (Alechinsky: inks). In 1960, during the 30th Venice Biennale, he exhibited at the Belgian Pavilion.

He gradually abandoned oil painting for faster and more flexible materials like ink, which allowed him to freely express a fluid and sensitive style. Fascinated by Oriental calligraphy, which attracted him with its spontaneity, he made several trips to the Far East and in 1955 filmed a documentary in Kyoto about this traditional Japanese art (Japanese Calligraphy). Although his work "La nuit" (Ohara Museum of Art, Kurashiki - 1952) already contained this inspiration from the Far East through the merging of signs and writing beyond the realm of color, the film Japanese Calligraphy, edited in 1958, reflects the impact of this discovery on his own technique. Christian Dotremont provided the commentary, and André Souris composed the music.

Supported by the Galerie de France, he made frequent trips to New York starting in the 1960s, where in 1965 he discovered a technique that suited him well, acrylic painting, introduced to him by Walasse Ting. That same year, he created his most famous work Central Park, in which he introduced the "marginal notes" painting style, inspired by comics, where the central image is surrounded on all four sides by a series of vignettes intended to complement the meaning of the painting. The interaction between the two areas is both enigmatic and fascinating.

Also in 1965, André Breton, one year before his death, invited Pierre Alechinsky to participate in the XIth International Surrealism Exhibition, "L'Écart Absolu".

He illustrated Honoré de Balzac's "Treatise on Modern Stimulants" in 1989. The book, with an afterword by Michel Butor, was published by Yves Rivière.

In 1975, the Ministry of Culture commissioned him to create a table service, which he produced in collaboration with the Manufacture de Sèvres, and the following year he completed a coffee service with the initials of Michel Guy. Between 2000 and 2004, he regularly returned to the workshops of the manufacture to paint decorations on the Diane service, a form of table service from the Sèvres - Cité de la céramique repertoire.

In 1998, the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris dedicated an exhibition to him. In 2004, a new exhibition was held at the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou, Paris.

In 1992, he was entrusted with decorating the access rotunda of the Hôtel de Lassay at the National Assembly.

In April 2006, he was awarded the Legion of Honour in France.

In 2006, the work "Main courante" that he created specifically for the art magazine Trou (issue no. 16) was published, with the special edition containing an etching titled "Temps passé" printed on sheets from an old French customs register.

From December 2007 to March 2008, on the occasion of Alechinsky's eightieth birthday, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels paid tribute to him through a retrospective exhibition of the artist's entire career, during which he declared that contemporary art is merely a matter of relationships.

The Lelong Gallery in Paris has been representing and regularly exhibiting Pierre Alechinsky's work since 1979.

He was a member of the juries responsible for judging the works and projects submitted for the Godecharle prizes.