Silvin Bronkart (1915-1967) - Entrelacs Graphiques

Silvin BRONKART (1915-1967)
Painter, draftsman, engraver, and sculptor from Belgium, a major figure of post-war lyrical and geometric abstraction in Liège.

Title: Graphic Entanglements - 1953
(Work catalogued in the raisonné under the title Untitled No. 3762)

Technique:
Ink drawing on paper with charcoal

Signed and dated “Silvin 53.” at the lower right

Dimensions: 53.5 × 38 cm

Condition: Excellent.
Only two tiny defects (visible only in the attached photographs) will be perfectly hidden once the work is framed. The paper is in remarkable condition, with no yellowing or notable alteration.

Sold unframed

Provenance
Françoise BRONKART Collection, daughter of the artist
(direct provenance from the family atelier)

Notes
Various inscriptions and studio numbers on the verso (visible in the photographs)

Raisonné
Work listed in the online raisonné of the artist:
https://art-info.be/oeuvres/sans-titre-3762

Artistic description
A masterpiece from Silvin Bronkart’s full maturity period, this 1953 composition reveals the artist’s virtuosity and poetry. In a lush graphic proliferation of extraordinary richness, biomorphic and geometric forms interlace into a labyrinthine network of flowing lines, dense hatching, sensuous curves, and angular structures. The line, at times nerve-wracking, at others caressing, creates a fascinating spatial depth and a dynamic rhythm that captivates the eye. A true visual score, the work oscillates between order and chaos, constructive rigour and organic freedom – an unmistakable signature of the Liège master.
A rare piece, of exceptional graphic sophistication, arising directly from the family succession and perfectly documented.

Complete biography of Silvin Bronkart
Silvin Bronkart (full name Silvin, Joseph, Louis Bronkart), known as Silvin, was born June 14, 1915 in Liège into a Catholic Liège family. He is the youngest of four children. From 1927-1930 he pursued secondary studies at the Athénée Royal de Liège, then entered the Institut Saint-Luc de Liège (Decorative Arts section, 1930-1939). He studied under renowned professors including Jean Julémont and Félix Proth. He won the Grand Prize for the final year in 1939 (theme “Water”) and received an encouragement prize at the Marie Prize of the Academy of Fine Arts of Liège.

After the war, he quickly established himself as one of the central figures of Liège avant-garde. In 1949, he co-founded the group Réalité (which became Réalité-Cobra in 1950-1952) with Pol Bury, Georges Collignon, Léopold Plomteux, Paul Franck, and Maurice Léonard. This group, the first Belgian formation entirely dedicated to abstraction, affiliated with the international COBRA movement and played a decisive role in renewing the Walloon art scene.

Active member of APIAW (Association for Intellectual and Artistic Progress in Wallonia) from 1947, he became secretary of the Commission of Fine Arts in 1958 and organized numerous exhibitions there. He participated in numerous collective and solo exhibitions in Liège, Brussels, Paris, Ostend, Maastricht, Lausanne, etc. His works were acquired by the Belgian State, the City of Liège, and major collectors such as Fernand Graindorge, a major patron of post-war Wallonia.

His style evolves from refined and complex geometric abstraction to a more organic and material language.

In the 1960s, he gradually abandoned painting to devote himself to “plombs ouvrés” (cast and worked lead reliefs), a technique in which he excelled and which earned him international recognition.

His works are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art of Liège and MuZEE in Ostend.
Silvin Bronkart died on July 5, 1967 in Herstal/Liège (at age 52). He left behind a coherent, demanding, and poetic oeuvre, marked by exceptional sensitivity, virtuoso graphical mastery, and a constant quest for harmony between formal rigour and expressive freedom.