Lot 6
  • 6

Walter Leblanc

Estimate
150,000 - 200,000 GBP
bidding is closed

Description

  • Walter Leblanc
  • Torsions Mobilo-Static C 54
  • signed, titled and dated 1963 on the reverse
  • polyvinyl on masonite
  • 181 by 120.5 cm. 71 1/4 by 47 1/2 in.

Provenance

Galerie Denise René, Paris 

Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2010

Exhibited

Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Prix de la Jeune Peinture Belge, 1964

Literature

Nicole Leblanc and Danielle Everarts de Velp-Seynaeve, Walter Leblanc, Catalogue Raisonné, Bruges 1997, p. 204, no. 592, illustrated

Condition

Colour: The colour in the catalogue illustration is fairly accurate. Condition: Condition: This work is in very good condition. There are some media accretions in isolated places, notably along the top edge and in places in between the central strips. Close inspection reveals some rub marks running horizontally along where the central panel meets the upper and lower sections and a minute dent to the bottom of one of the strips, 9 along from the left.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

Executed in 1963, Torsions Mobilo-Static C 54 is wholly paradigmatic of Walter Leblanc’s critical search for a new dimension in painting. Vital to the birth of kinetic art in Europe, Leblanc shared the influential ZERO group’s desire to challenge the limitations of two dimensional painting and its illusions of space through an exploration of colour, material, and structure. Breaking away from the popular Art Informel movement, Leblanc established the art collective G 58 in 1958, a group of young Belgian artists in Antwerp that rejected traditional art techniques by using unconventional materials such as cotton, plastic, yarn, sand, and glue to create dynamic surfaces.

In 1959 Leblanc began his iconic Torsions – the key body of work that would come to define his practice. Created from polyvinyl strips fastened onto stretchers, the Torsions catch and reflect light to produce exquisite effects that alternate and modify, imbued with an autonomy and life of their own through a dialogue with ambient space. Changes in lighting impart an almost distortive and vertiginous effect that borders concurrent developments in Op art as pioneered by Bridget Riley during the early 1960s. As Leblanc explained: “Giving a third dimension to the surface was a constant concern and this was achieved by rotating the surface on itself […] The torsion allowed me to fractionate the light in an ordered and controlled manner without having to revert to an écriture of paint like Van Gogh’s brushwork” (Walter Leblanc cited in: Nicole Leblanc and Danielle Everarts de Velp-Seynaeve, Walter Leblanc. Catalogue Raisonné, Ghent 1997, p. 34).

Leblanc’s creative use of material to alter perceptions of space and tempt the viewer to question the illusive reality of the dynamic surface chimes with key tenets of the ZERO group and correlates to the work of contemporaries, such as Enrico Castellani, Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni, and Jesús Rafael Soto. They shared the common goal of redefining art through an exploration of light, motion, space, and material. Notably, Leblanc’s Torsions were exhibited alongside works by key members of the ZERO movement throughout the 1960s, including an exhibition at the Galerie Schindler in Bern in 1962; the McRoberts and Tunnard Gallery in London in 1964; the exhibition Structures Vivantes at the Redfern Gallery, London, in 1964; as well as the exhibition Zéro Avant-garde at Fontana’s studio in Milan in 1965.

A skilled amateur of Jazz music, Leblanc viewed his individual works as stages of development in a succession of evolution, similar to a musical expression in which a sequence of notes, tones, and chords form the melody which the composer wants listeners to remember. Torsions Mobilo-Static C 54 demonstrates the sophisticated fruition of Leblanc’s Torsions, as the rhythmic oscillation of contrasting hues of black, white, and yellow explores the tension between depth and flat surface.