Pierre Alechinsky (Belgian, born 1927),
Alechinsky has worked most of his life in Paris. He studied at the National College of Architecture and Decorative Arts in Brussels. In 1949 he joined Karel Appel, Asger Jorn and Christian Dotremont to form CoBrA, an art movement created as a reaction against the formalized style of painting then popular in Europe. The name was an acronym of the cities from which the artists hailed – Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam. Inspired by the spontaneity of Primitive art and the exuberance of children’s drawings, the artists’ work is considered a parallel to American Abstract Expressionism. It was during his years of association with CoBrA that Alechinsky adopted the vigorous and expressive style for which he is famous.
In the mid 1950s he traveled to Japan and began to create large-scale works using India ink and brushes. In 1977, Alechinsky was the recipient of the Andrew Mellon Prize, in 1984, the Grand Prix National. He has exhibited widely, and his work is in the permanent collections of numerous museums.
Reference: John Russel. “Painting with Fanciful Strokes,” New York Times, March 3, 1987; Neal Auction Company, May 2008.