Background
Georges Vantongerloo was born on October 6, 1886 in Antwerp, Belgium.
Georges Vantongerloo was born on October 6, 1886 in Antwerp, Belgium.
From 1900 Georges studied general and drafting studies at the Academy for Fine Arts in Antwerp. Beginning in 1903, he followed a four-year course of sculptural art and worked in the studio of sculptor Emile Jespers, father of fellow student Oscar.
In 1905, Georges moved to Brussels, where he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts. He completed his military service from 1906 to 1909.
Georges began as a sculptor after studies in Antwerp and Brussels. Subsequently he moved to Holland during World War I and came into contact with the artists of De Stijl, in which he should play an important role. He settled in Menton (South France) and worked in Paris along with Michel Seuphor on the group exhibition Cercle et Carré (1930). One year later he formed Abstraction-Création with Auguste Herbin. Vantongerloo was taken up in all important international exhibitions in the years 1930-40: Cubism and Abstract Art in the MoMa (1936), Abstracte Kunst in the Stedelijk Museum of Amsterdam and Konkrete Kunst in the Kunsthalle of Basel (1944).
Vantongerloo, who ascribed to the abstract language of form after 1917, applied himself to Abstract Art in order to get control of rules by which he developed an interest in geometrical relationships and algebraic formulas.
In addition to his artistic practice, Vantongerloo also wrote theoretical work about his research. Primarily after the publication of his pamphlet L’Art et son Avenir in 1924, he created new impulses for geometric abstraction with his writings. In this way, for example, he subjected three neo-plastic works of Piet Mondriaan to an analysis in the French publication Vouloir. In this way he opened up the way for his own ‘mathematical’ abstraction.
For twenty years Vantongerloo worked as a painter and sculptor on his oeuvre and restricted himself to horizontal and vertical lines. The three-dimensional translation of this play of lines leads him to architectural concepts that he attempted to incorporate in urban projects for bridges and airports. Around 1937, after he distanced himself from the straight line in favour of the curved line, principles continued to determine his work, but his work took on a larger, lyrical freedom. His latest works were fresh and playful. He used new materials, such as Plexiglas and plastic, and played with transparency, colour and light. The use of spirals led Vantongerloo’s research to ‘immeasurable’ space. He died on October 5, 1965 in Paris, France.