The painter, engraver and draughtsman Pierre Alechinsky, whose work combines expressionism and surrealism, is a Belgian artist who was born in Brussels on 19 October 1927 to a Jewish father of Russian origin and a Walloon mother, both doctors. Between 1944 and 1948, he studied typography and book illustration at La Cambre (Ecole supérieure d'Architecture et d'Arts décoratifs) in Brussels. At the same time, he started to paint independently and joined the Jeune Peinture Belge group in 1947.
In 1949, following his meeting with Christian Dotremont, a Belgian painter and poet famous for his logograms, he joined the CoBrA group (an acronym of the cities of origin of its founders: Copenhagen/Brussels/Amsterdam). This movement, which lasted only three years (from 1948 to 1951), nevertheless had a crucial influence on the history of modern art. All the artists in the CoBrA movement had the common goal of freeing themselves completely from the constraints of Western art. The paintings by these artists were influenced by poetry, film, children's art, folk art, Viking art, oriental calligraphy and primitive art, and display brilliant colours and spontaneous brush strokes. According to Alechinsky, "it was a case of diving deeper into the earth, into the water, the fire, the air. This vision of art, shared by all the members of the group, led to a fantasy bestiary of monsters, masks, carnival figures and totems that they thought would encourage the total liberation of the desire to create. Integrating these sources of inspiration, Alechinsky's style moved towards the fantastic in the 1950s and incorporated bizarre imagery such as that of the works of Jerome Bosch. Following a trip to Japan in 1955, Alechinsky also decided to use the traditional methods of Japanese calligraphy. His painting style is similar to calligraphy; it is almost figurative, based on material effects.
Around the same time, he invented central images surrounded by a margin (as with postage stamps). Today, these creations form one of his major artistic characteristics. He is a well-known artistic personality who exhibits in numerous galleries and museums. He has also created public works including the decoration of the rotunda of the Hôtel de Lassay at the National Assembly. He has received a number of honours, including Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres (1992), Doctor Honoris Causa of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (1994), Prix André Malraux du Livre d'Art (2004), Doctor Honoris Causa of the Université de Liège (2010), and Praemium Imperiale, Japan (2018). At over 90 years of age, the artist continues to paint, and is still creative and inspired
Photo : © Belga