Jef Verheyen 1955-1962 Antwerpen-Düsseldorf-Milano Axel ...

Jef Verheyen 1955-1962Antwerpen-Düsseldorf-Milano

Axel Vervoordt Galleryuntil 01.05.2021Group exhibition

Jef Verheyen, Antwerpen, 1962

In the late ‘50s, and early ‘60s, cities like Antwerp, Düsseldorf, and Milan were meeting places for artists

like Jef Verheyen (1932-1984) who aimed to explore artistic boundaries, while their friendships intensified.

This exhibition brings together early works from Jef Verheyen and some of his Belgian friends like

Englebert Van Anderlecht, Bram Bogart and Walter Leblanc, but also shows the international context in

which Verheyen was prominent with Yves Klein, Günther Uecker, Lucio Fontana, Heinz Mack and Otto

Piene. These artists brought painting back to its essence and opened the road to infinity with concepts like

light being the essential mechanism, colour being the pictorial dynamic and transcendental element.

Jef Verheyen 1955-1962Antwerpen-Düsseldorf-Milano

From left to right: Christine and Gunther Uecker, Henk Peeters, Hermann Goepfert, Truus Peeters, Otto Piene, unknown, Christian Megert, Heinz Mack, Bettina Rhode and Jef Verheyen, at Hotel Rosier in Antwerp after the opening of the exhibition ‘ZERO International’ at Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerpen in 1979.

An ambitious internationalist, Antwerp-born artist Jef Verheyen was the link between the Belgian and

international art worlds in a number of areas. He was also an avid correspondent and he wrote numerous

letters to artists and collectors.

At the Antwerp Academy, Jef Verheyen met Walter Leblanc (1932-1986) with whom he shared the same

passion for questioning painting and the interest in light and in the other space. They both belonged to

the Group G58 and on several occasions they were present at the same exhibitions, of which the Belgian

Pavilion at the Biennale of Venice in 1970.

Exhibition De Nieuwe Europese School at the Hessenhuis, Antwerpen, in front Twisted Strings (1958) by Walter Leblanc

Together with Englebert van Anderlecht (1918-1961), Jef Verheyen laid the foundations for a new art

movement at Hans Liechti’s gallery in Grenchen in Switzerland :De Nieuwe Vlaamse School (The New

Flemish School). In this manifesto the artists and writers insisted on the universal character of their art

based on their Flemish origin. For Verheyen, there was a link with Flemish Old Masters for their use of

classical painting techniques, and there was also a strong interest in geometric and mathematical

proportions as a manifestation of universal harmony. In 1960, Verheyen produced a number of paintings

together with Van Anderlecht entitled ‘Ni l’un, ni l’autre (Neither one nor the other). For Van Anderlecht,

painting meant a search for hidden inner rhythms to be expressed in short violent brushstrokes.

Englebert Van Anderlecht and Jef Verheyen collaborating together in Jef’s studio, Antwerpen, August 1960

But Verheyen’s real family was not to be found in Flanders or Antwerp, but in a more international context.

The encounter with Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) in 1957 was of capital importance for Jef Verheyen, who

was 25 at that time, Fontana was 58. He recognized in the painter Verheyen a similar urge to break through

the painting, to rejuvenate the genre, to penetrate the essence of art. He supported Verheyen not only

with encouragement. He helped him establish contacts with fellow painters like Piero Manzoni (1933-1963)

and Roberto Crippa (1921-1972) and also with collectors and galleries in Milan, which was at that time the

city of avant-garde art and fashion. Although he was much older, Fontana referred to Verheyen as ‘il mio

padre’ (my father). When Lucio Fontana came to Belgium in 1962, 5 years after their first

encounter and after visits, correspondence and openings, his primary purpose was to create common

paintings with Verheyen. At a villa in Knokke, they collaborated together on ‘Rêve de Môbius’ and Belgian

Television filmed part of the event.

Lucio Fontana and Jef Verheyen collaborating together in Knokke, November 1962

Letter from Lucio Fontana to Jef Verheyen about Fontana’s project for the exhibition ‘Integratie’, 15 June 1964

.Jef Verheyen in Lucio Fontana’s studio, Milan, January 1959

Jef Verheyen and Lucio Fontana painting together in preparation of the exhibition ’Retrospective Lucio Fontana’, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 1966.

Besides Lucio Fontana and Piero Manzoni, Jef Verheyen also felt a strong connection with Yves Klein

(1928-1962). Not only for his favourite sport judo, and for his fanatism for formal ritual events but

especially for his never-lasting energy to create art with new materials and his burning ambition to free

art from its material limitations. In a 1973 interview, Verheyen said: “We grappled with the problem of how

to go beyond Tachism and Art Informel. What mattered more to us was to create consciousness-raising

painting. We had turned away from Abstract Expressionism. The four of us – Fontana, Yves Klein,

Manzoni and I – responded to it with a collective idea. […] We communicated very well with each other.

That was because we had the same artistic concerns […] We were pursuing the same ideas.”

Jef Verheyen and Piero Manzoni in Milan, January 1959

Letter from Piero Manzoni to Jef Verheyen, 1 August 1961

Verheyen also found kindred spirits in Düsseldorf, where ZERO Group was formed in 1957 originally by

Otto Piene (1928-2014) and Heinz Mack (°1931) and one year later joined by Günther Uecker (°1930). Jef

Verheyen officially became a member of this movement in 1962. ZERO considered colour to be an ema-

nation of light. The group’s philosophy implied a rejection of the vision that art should be the voicing of a

tortured personality in a tortured world. It was art for art. ZERO was looking towards the future and trying

out new materials and techniques. Verheyen became close friends with Günther Uecker, of whom he said:

“Uecker and I immediately felt that affinity that is so vital to friendships between artists.” Two years later, in

1964, Verheyen organised together with Renaat Braem (1910-2001) an ambitious international exhibition

in Deurne Integratie 64, with a.o. work by Fontana, Goepfert, Klein, Mack, Piene and Uecker.

Günther Uecker and Jef Verheyen outside Jef’s studio in Antwerp in 1961

Verheyen made his first black paintings in 1956 and he defines them as ‘Schwarz darstellen’ (depicting

black) referring to an idea of Paul Klee. But in a letter from 1975 to Dominique Stroobant (°1947), Jef

Verheyen stated that this attribution was an invention from himself and was never published by Paul Klee.

Current knowledge of particle theory has established that black is not a non-colour but ur-matter. Ver-

heyen sensed this intuitively.

In these early works by Jef Verheyen, one can feel the influence of Taoism and Chinese art, resulting in a

more spiritual reading and deeper use of clair-obscur. The darkness of these paintings shows the

importance of Emptiness in which, according to Verheyen, the Essence reveals itself. He wanted to bring

painting back to its essence and opened the road to infinity with concepts like light being the essential

mechanism, colour being the pictorial dynamic and transcendental element. This concept was explained

in the essay ‘Essentialism’ that Verheyen wrote in 1959.

First group exhibition of G58 at the Hessenhuis, Antwerp, with monochrome of Jef Verheyen, 1958.

Jef Verheyen in Antwerp, Antwerp, 1961

Jef VERHEYEN (Itegem, 1932 - Apt, 1984)

Untitled, 1959-1960

Oil on burlap, 100 x 81 cm

A1219.011


Untitled, 1960

Matte laquer on burlap, 130 x 97 cm

A1219.025

Private collection USA


Untitled, 1962

Oil on canvas, 130 x 95 cm

A0920.107


& Englebert VAN ANDERLECHT, (Schaerbeek, 1918 - Brussels, 1961)

L’Un et l’Autre No 8, 1960

Oil and acrylic on canvas, 81 x 100 cm

A0405.102


Untitled, 1960


A0819.030


Untitled, 1962


A0419.013


Zwarte Ruimte, 1959-1960


A0614.103

Axel & May Vervoordt Foundation

Contribution of Hans Liechti to Jef Verheyen's 'livre d'amis' in 1970

Hans Liechti and Jef Verheyen, Galerie Bernard, Grenchen, 1960

Jef VERHEYEN (Itegem, 1932 - Apt, 1984) & Lucio FONTANA (Rosario, 1899

- Comabbio, 1968)

Rêve de Möbius, 1962

Synthetic paint on canvas and perforations, 105 x 150 cm

A0221.122

Axel en May Vervoordt Foundation

Heinz MACK (°Lollar, 1931)

Dynamische Struktur, 1960-61


A0607.059


Heinz Mack and Jef Verheyen at the opening of the exhibition 'Ad Reinhardt - Francesco Lo Savio - Jef Verheyen' at Städtliches Museum Leverkusen, January 1961

Otto PIENE (Laasphe, 1928 - Berlin, 2014)

Schwarze Sonne, 1962-63

Smoke and charcoal on canvas, 151 x 151 cm

A0607.065


Walter LEBLANC (Antwerpen, 1932 - Silly, 1986)

Twisted Strings 25F O X 36, 1960

Cotton strings and oil on canvas, 81 x 65 cm

A0221.136

Walter Leblanc Foundation

Hermann Goepfert, Raimund Girke and Walter Leblanc in the studio of Goepfert, Frankfurt, early 60’s.

e painting, (F 118), 1961

Burnt cardboard on wooden panel, 40 x 56 cm

A0820.008

Yves KLEIN (Nice, 1928 - Cannes, 1962)

Untitled Fir

Edition of 150 + 65 unnumbered copies (as this one)

Cork print on brownish velours paper, relined on canvas, 22,5 x 17 cm

A0512.080

Piero MANZONI (Soncino Cremona, 1933 - Milaan, 1963)

Untitled, 1959,

Roberto CRIPPA (Monza, 1921 - Bresso, 1972)

Animals, 1960

Collage with newspapers on wooden panel, varnished with synthetic resin by

the artist, 60 x73 cm

A0911.098


Gotthard GRAUBNER (Erlbach, 1930 - Düsseldorf, 2013)

Gesacktes Kissen, 1969

Painted foam cushion on polyester fabric covered with perlon, 183 x 106 cm

A1220.093

Bram BOGART (Delft, 1921 - Sint-Truiden, 2012)

Monochroom zwart-wit, 1955


A0807.071

Bram Bogart at his studio in Paris, 1960

1967

Nails and white paint on canvas on panel, 43 x 43 x 7,5 cm

A1220.091

Günther UECKER (°Wendorf, 1930)

Cloud field,

Raimund GIRKE (Heinzendorf, 1930 - Cologne, 2002)

Untitled, 1959


A1117.030

Museum only

Letter from Jef Verheyen to Dominique Stroobant, 1975

Dominique STROOBANT (°Antwerpen, 1947)

Schwarz darstellen, 2009

Black granite, 7 x 92 x 93 cm

A0221.125

May Vervoordt, Jef Verheyen and Axel Vervoordt at the opening of his exhibition at Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf in 1973

Jef Verheyen 1955-1962 Antwerpen-Düsseldorf-Milano Axel ...

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