Background

Servranckx was born in Vilvoorde, Belgium, on June 26, 1897.

Education

Victor Servranckx attended the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels from 1913 until 1917. He studied along with Marcel-Louis Baugniet, Karel Maes, Pierre-Louis Flouquet and René Magritte.

Career

Servranckx served as an assistant designer in the wallpaper factory Usines Peters-Lacroix (U.P.L.) in Haren near Brussels. René Magritte was his colleague between 1921 and 1922. Servranckx participated in the exhibitions of the 2nd and 3rd Congresses for Modern Art in Antwerp and Bruges in 1922, respectively. During that time Servranckx wrote, together with Magritte, the unpublished article, L’art pur. Défense de l’esthétique.

In addition to the articles that Victor Servranckx wrote for 7 Arts, he cooperated with the L’Equerre and the journal 7 Arts in the Salon de La Lanterne Sourde: Les arts belges d’esprit nouveau. The salon was held in the Salle Manège of the Egmont Palace in Brussels.

In 1923 Servranckx hosted a large one-man exhibition in the Galerie Royale in Brussels. At the exhibition, his constructivist artworks of the period 1921-1923 were presented. After that, he had several exhibitions abroad, for instance, in Bielefeld, Bucharest and Paris.

The artist became interested in applied arts in 1925. He participated in the Exposition Internationale des arts décoratifs in Paris and an expo in Monza, Italy. Besides, he made book-cover designs as well as posters on consignment for the Flemish Folk Theatre.

He was offered to take part in the exhibition, the International Exhibition of Modern Art, a travelling exhibition in the United States, organized by Marcel Duchamp and Katherine Dreier in 1927. Between 1928 and 1929 his one-man exhibition took place in the Galerie Der Sturm, Berlin. Concurrently, he exhibited in the gallery Le Centaure and also held an overview exhibition in the Palace of Fine Arts in Brussels. During this period, he combined in his works his constructivism with a surrealistic language of forms.

Starting from 1932, the artist taught the evening course entitled "Art History and Art Initiation" at the Academy in Elsene. In 1935 he travelled for a few months through Italy, accompanied by Fernand Léger, an artist, and Léonce Rosenberg, an art dealer. Later he also gave a lecture in the Stedelijk Museum of Amsterdam under the title "Constructivism and destructive art".

Along with Marcel Lempereur-Haut, Albert Gleizes and Robert Delaunay the artist exhibited in Prague, The Hague and Budapest. The group exhibition was titled "Les Artistes Musicalistes". Voctor Servranckx produced a design for the booth of the National Institute for Radio broadcasting (N.I.R./I.N.R.) in the Eeuwfeestzaal (Heizel) in Brussels. The large décor consisted of 550 m2 of frescoes.

Aroud 1939 Victor Servranckx made trips to Cuba, Mexico and the United States. While in Mexico Servranckx created a portrait of Diego Rivera. In the United States he met the former Bauhaus instructor Lászlo Moholy-Nagy, who suggested him a teaching chair at his School of Design in Chicago. The artist, however, decided to move back to Brussels. At the early 1940s, Voctor Servranckx created various assemblages (ready-mades), as well as numerous figurative landscapes and portraits. In 1944 Constant Permeke, a director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, offered Servranckx a teaching position, which he rejected.

Servranckx was one of the most significant personalities of the second wave of Abstract Art. In the year 1946 he showed his early artworks in the Galerie La Boétie during the exhibition Cubisme. There he presented his works along with Lipchitz, Picasso, Metzinger and Zadkine. He had a retrospective exhibition in the Palace of Fine Arts in 1947. Between 1948 and 1953, Victor Servranckx was taken up in the annual Salon des Réalités Nouvelles. In 1954, he also participated in the XXIVth Biennale of Venice.

Due to the assistance of Michel Seuphor, Servranckx was present at the important overview, 50 ans de peinture Abstraite, which took place in the Galerie Creuze in 1958. He was elected for the exhibition 50 jaar Moderne Kunst, held at the International World Exhibition, Brussels, in 1958.

Achievements

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  Victor Servranckx was perhaps one of the most productive of the first generation of abstract artists in Belgium. As the only artist from the Pure Plasticism, Servranckx's work was chosen in 1927 by the New York gallery Société Anonyme for the International Exhibition of Modern Art. Today his works are displayed in major museums around the world.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Peinture 58: Opus 58

  • Xallpaper - Papier peint

  • Opus 55. Règne de l’acier poli (Heerschappij van gepolijst staal)

  • BLÉ COUPÉ - HET KOREN

  • Factory

  • Red Rotation

  • Opus 30-1922 (Factory)

  • Haven - Opus 2

  • Opus 14

  • Opus 4

  • Les blés

  • Opus 52 - The Bridges

  • Projet de papier peint (Tapestry design with rose)

  • opus 9 - 1927

  • Seated nude

  • Still life with fruits and vegetables

  • Pont dans le brouillard

  • Untitled

  • Compositions (2 works)

  • Homme allongé

  • Untitled

  • Opus 8 - 1949

  • Composition abstraite

  • Opus 9

  • Composition

  • Composition

  • Opus 5

  • Abstract composition

• sculpture

  • Opus 1

  • Opus 2 (Sensual Complex)

  • Table

• Other Work

  • Untitled

Connections

Victor Servranckx married Hélène Tyrmand in 1930. In 1938 their son Paul was born. After Hélène's death in 1965, Servranckx remarried Angeline Turcksin just a few days before his death.

Spouse:

Hélène Tyrmand

Spouse:

Angeline Turcksin

Son:

Paul Servranckx

References

• Jean Brusselmans and Victor Servranckx : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent