An almost forgotten painter from a time largely erased from memory, yet between 1925 and 1950, this Belgian artist participated in great moments of the major pictorial revolution of the 20th century: ABSTRACTION

1923 - 1933
In 1923, he met and married Claire ROZIER. This marriage – and this woman – seem to be at the source of his will to settle down, or at least of his need to focus on an activity which suited him profoundly. The joy he derived from drawing, as well as his talent, both became apparent during his holiday sojourns in Corsica in 1923 and 1924.

He was 40 years old when, as a self-taught artist, he chose to pursue an artistic career. In 1925, he settled in Paris and frequented Montparnasse, where most of the important artists of this century had gathered at the time.

His painting evolved rapidly. On his arrival, his spontaneous work, free of any pre-conceptions, was in the vein of what was known as “Social Realism”, a movement in vogue in Wallonia and Belgium, with Paul Paulus, Eugène Laermans and Frans Masereel. Once in the midst of the new ideas and debates shaking the artistic scene, his drawing became simplified, the figures receded and the shapes lost their shape…Within 5 years, his immersion in a world which was creating modern art, led him to Abstraction. During this short “learning period”, his work was nourished by his friendships, relationships and contact with his contemporaries, but his approach was always personal. Once in the throes of Abstraction, his work became a constant exploratory process, in purely plastic terms, guided only by his intuition. He never represented a particular school of thought, nor did he concern himself with the various groups and their respective doctrines and quarrels.

1926
His first exhibition (Galerie Vignol, 20 Rue Jacob) presented expressionist works.

1927
His meeting with Torres-Garcia was significant in his development; his work evolved towards “post-cubist” forms.

1928
Barred from the “Salon d’Automne” along with Torres-Garcia and Jean Hélion, they exhibited together in the “Exposition des Refuses”, (Galerie Marck, rue Bonaparte); here he presented quasi-abstract paintings, which then went on to Liège, Barcelona and Amsterdam (in a major exhibition organised by Nelly Van Doesburg, representing Arp, Théo Van Doesburg, Freundlich, Kupka, Miro, Mondrian, Picasso, Severini and Villon amongst others).

1929
He frequented ex-Dada (Max Ernst, Tristan Tzara) and the Surrealist “milieux” (Max Jacob’s group, “Sagesse”) which at the time promoted automatic writing; his paintings sometimes evoke the lines of André Masson and the forms of Jean Arp; he exhibited them in this, and the following year at the first two “Salons des Surindépendants” (Paris).

1930
Being close to the “Journal des Poètes”, run by Pierre-Louis Flouquet, he was confronted with “Pure Plastic”, but opted irreversibly for Abstraction. He was 45 years old. He exhibited his first abstract drawings and pastels in Paris (Galerie Schotte and Galerie des Editions Bonaparte). The critic, Max Terrien already described them as “paintings without lines or forms, constituted primarily of spots of colour…”

1931
He was part of the movement “Abstraction-Création” and exhibited with artists representing the main tendencies of the pre-war years; his name appeared with those of Arp, Delaunay, Gleizes, Gorin, Herbin, Kupka, Mondrian and Van Doesburg - amongst others - in the group exhibition, “1940” (Galerie de la Renaissance).

1932
He met Jean Ballard, who ran the “Cahiers du Sud” and would lead him to Malraux and Valéry, but also soon to Provence.