Alechinsky, Pierre

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ALECHINSKY, PIERRE

ALECHINSKY, PIERRE (1927– ), Belgian painter. Alechinsky was leader of the CoBrA group of artists, formed in Brussels, which fostered a spontaneous approach to painting and opposed social realism on the one hand and a calculated abstraction on the other. Alechinsky's works have been described as "explosive." They are characterized by a sense of perpetual movement and flux in which incomplete forms appear and dissolve. Alechinsky studied at the Ecole Nationale d'Architecture et des Arts Décoratifs in Brussels. In 1951 he moved to Paris, joining other members of the CoBrA group. Later he visited Japan, where he made a film on Japanese calligraphy. Alechinsky exhibited at the Venice and São Paulo Biennales.

bibliography:

F.C. Legrand, in: Quadrum, 11 (Fr., 1961), 123–32; J. Putman, in: L'Oeil, (Nov., 1966), 36–42.