Pierre Alechinsky

Pierre Alechinsky is a Belgian artist. He was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1927. In 1944 he attended the l'Ecole nationale supérieure d'Architecture et des Arts décoratifs de La Cambre[?], Brussels where he studied illustration techniques, printing and photography. In 1945 he discovered the work of Henri Michaux[?], Jean Dubuffet[?] and developed a friendship with the art critic Jacques Putman[?]. In 1949 he joined Christian Dotremont[?], Karel Appel and Asger Jorn to form the art group Cobra. He participated both the Cobra exhibitions and went to Paris to study engraving with Stanley William Hayter [?] in 1951. In 1954 he had his first exhibition in Paris and started to become interested in oriental calligraphy.

By 1960 he had exhibited in London, Berne and at the Venice Biennial[?], and then in Pittsburg, New York, Amsterdam and Silkeborg as his international reputation grew. he worked with Wallace Ting[?] and continued to be close to Christian Dotremont[?]. He also developed links with Andre Breton. His international career continued throughout the seventies and by 1983 he became Professor of painting at the Ecole nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts[?], Paris. In 1994 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Free University of Brussells, and in 1995 one of his designs was used on a Belgian stamp.