Pierre Alechinsky

Basic Data

Pierre Alechinsky is a Belgian painter and graphic artist. His work, in addition to Tachism, is also associated with Lyrical abstraction as well as Informel. Characteristic of Alechinsky's poetic and versatile oeuvre are his paintings and works in which he spans an arc between Asian and Western European culture. He combines elements of East Asian calligraphy with gestural painting and figuration in his distinctive visual language.

• Born: 19 October 1927
• Place of birth: Brussel, Belgium
• Nationality: Belgian
• Studied at: L'École de la Cambre
• Era: Modern art

 

Pierre Alechinsky Prices

 

Biography

Pierre Alechinsky was born in Brussels on 19 October 1927 as the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants. He studied typography and book illustration there at the College of Architecture and Applied Arts from 1944 to 1946. From 1949, Alechinsky joined the artists' group CoBrA around Asger Jorn, becoming involved above all in the production of the magazine CoBra.

In 1951, the Belgian-born artist moved to Paris. Here he studied the technique of etching and also met the Chinese artist Walasse Ting, who introduced him to Chinese painting techniques. Alechinsky's first trip to Japan followed in 1955. There he made the film "Calligraphie japonaise" in Kyoto and Tokyo about the tradition of calligraphy art and changed his artistic style from abstract to rough figurative forms to representational. The influence of calligraphy is also evident in his artworks and editions. Characteristic are also his marginal drawings, as they first appear in his work "Central Park" (1965). These "remarques marginales" are marginal notes that take up a lot of surface area and form a unit together with the "main picture".

From the 1960s onwards, the painter worked mainly on paper and also produced ink drawings or limited editions. In 1961 Pierre Alechinksky's first solo exhibition took place, organised by Otto van de Loo in Munich. Two years later, the artist moved to Bougival near Paris. He also takes part in documenta III and subsequently in documenta VI in Kassel. Together with the lyricist and painter Christian Dotremont, he designed the Belgian pavilion at the 1972 Venice Biennale, followed in 1977 by his first comprehensive retrospective at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh and the award of the Andrew W. Mellon Prize for his complete works. In the 1980s, Alechinsky worked as a professor at the Ecole nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Today, the artist is still productive. His last major project was his monumental large-scale painting ,,Loin d'ici", which he designed in the Vienna State Opera for the exhibition series "Iron Curtain" 2018/19. Alechinsky's works can be seen in the Cobra Museum and other galleries as well as renowned art institutions such as the Stedelijk Museum or the Centre Pompidou. Today, the artist continues to live and work in Bougival near Paris. 

 

Exhibitions

• 20.04.2023 - 28.01.2024 No Feeling Is Final. The Skopje Solidarity Collection - Kunsthalle Wien Museum, Vienna.
• 26.01.2023 - 25.03.2023 Bestiaires - Centre Cultural Jacques Brel, Thionville.
• 19.11.2022 - 05.03.2023 Becoming CoBrA. Anfänge einer europäischen Kunstbewegung - Kunsthalle Mannheim.
• 24.02.2022 - 29.08.2022 Surrealism Beyond Borders - Tate Modern, London.
• 24.09.2021 - 30.01.2022 Sammlung Miessl - Stadtgalerie Klagenfurt.
• 15.10. 2021 - 27.02.2022 XXL Le dessin contemporain en grand – Musée Jenisch, Vevey.
• 26.06.2021 - 29.08.2021 Sammlung König-Lebschik – Kunsthaus Bregenz.
• 01.04.2021 - 01.08.2021 Pierre Alechinsky Carta Canta, Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels.
• 27.02.2021 - 26.09.2021 wild/schön - Kunsthalle Emden
• 04.05.20 - 28.06.20 Museo Tamayo Collection - Museo Tamayo, Mexiko City.
• 04.04.20 - 07.06.20 Herzstücke. Sammlung Kunsthalle Emden, Tübingen.
• 29.02.20 - 25.04.20 Contemporary meets Masters – Art Forum Ute Barth, Zurich.
• 29.06.2019 - 29.09.2019 Face it! - Kunstmuseum Ravensburg.
• 27.05.2019 - 19.05.2019 Platons Erben – Die Sammlungen im Kunstmuseum Bayreuth - Kunstmuseum Bayreuth.
• 13.05.2017 - 26.11.2017 INTUITION - PALAZZO FORTUNY, Venice.
• 12.11.2015 - 23.01.2016 Auf Papier - On Paper - Die Galerie, Frankfurt/Main
• 22.03.2013 - 09.06.2013 Von Beckmann bis Warhol. Die Sammlung Bayer - Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin.
• 14.06.2011 - 08.01.2012 Painterly Abstraction, 1949-1969 - Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao.
• 05.06.2010 - 01.11.2010 Alechinsky: les Ateliers du Midi - Musée Granet, Aix en Provence.
• 19.03.2009 - 10.05.2009 Die Macht des Expressiven - Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin.
• 23.11.2007 - 30.05.2007 ALECHINSKY from A to Y - Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels.
• 30.04.2005 - 10.07.2005 Pierre Alechinsky - Kunsthalle Emden.
• 30.06.2004 – 27.09.2004 Alechinsky - In the Land of Ink – Centre Pompidou, Paris.
• 18.07.1999 - 16.09.1999 Von Pierre Alechinsky bis Maurice Wyckaert – Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz / Museum Gunzenhauser. 

 

Awards

• 1977: Andrew-W.-Mellon-Prize for his oeuvre, Pittsburg.
• 1984: Grand Prix national des Arts et Letrres pour la Peinture, Paris.
• 1988: Herbert-Boeckl-Prize, Salzburg.
• 1993: L’ordre national de la Légion d’honneur, Paris.
• 1994: Ehrendoktorwürde der Universität Brussels.
• 2018: Praemium Imperiale, Tokyo.

 

Films

• Calligraphie japonais, Documentation by Pierre Alechinsky, 16 min, Kyoto, 1957.

 

Literature

• ALECHINSKY PB: marginalia: Plume et pinceau, Patrice Deparpe, Frankfurt/Main 2017.
• Artists' Painters. Pierre Alechinsky: C'est par là!, Renate Goldmann (Publ.), Cologne 2016.
• Pierre Alechinsky, Pierre Daix, Pierre Alechinsky, Lausanne 2015.
• Alechinsky from A to Y, Michel Draquet (Publ.), exhibition catalog Musées des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Tielt 2008.
• Pierre Alechinsky. Werke aus fünf Jahrzehnten, Achim Sommer, Ostfildern 2005.
• Pierre Alechinsky: zwischen den Zeilen, Ernst-Gerhard Güse (Publ.), Ostfildern 1993.
• Pierre Alechinsky: Margin and Center, exhibition catalog, Hanover 1988.
• Pierre Alechinsky : Bilder, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen - eine Retrospektive, Carl Haenlein (Publ.), exhibition catalog, Hanover 1980.

 

Own Writings

• Les palimpsestes, Pierre Alechinsky, La Louvière, 2017.
• Roue libre, Pierre Alechinsky, Paris 2017.
• A l'heure qu'il est, Pierre Alechinsky und Didier Semin, Paris 2014.
• La gamme d'Ensor, Pierre Alechinsky, Paris 2009.
• Rein, comme si de rien, Pierre Alechinsky, Paris 2009.
• Des deux mains : traits et portraits, Pierre Alechinsky, Paris 2004.
• Les estampes de 1946 à 1972, Pierre Alechinsky, Paris 1973.
• Le tout venant, Pierre Alechinsky, Paris 1966.
• Pierre Alechinsky. Titres et pains perdus, Pierre Alechinsky, Paris 1965.

 

Collections

Belgium

• Antwerpen -  Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten (KMSKA)

Denmark

• Humlebæk - Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

Germany

• Essen - Museum Folkwang
• Frankfurt/Main - Sammlung Deutsche Bank

 

France

• Villeneuve-d'Ascq - Musée d´art moderne de Lille (LAM)
• Strasbourg - Musée d´Art Moderne et Contemporain (MAMCS)
• Marseille - Musée Cantini

Italy

• Venice - Peggy Guggenheim Collection

 

Japan

• Tokyo  -  The National Museum of Modern Art (MOMAT)
• Kyoto - The National Museum of Modern Art (MOMAK)

Netherlands

• Amstelveen - Cobra Museum of Modern Art
• Dordrecht - Dordrechts Museum
• Helmond - Gemeentemuseum Helmond
• Schiedam - Stedelijk Museum Schiedam

 

South Korea

• Seoul - Daelim Museum

 

USA

• Los Angeles - Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
• New York - Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

 

Weblinks

• Kunstaspekte Pierre Alechinsky Exhibition and collection overview.
• Guggenheim Pierre Alechinsky Biography
• Galerie van de loo Biography and exhibition overview.