Pierre Alechinsky - Le Test du Titre / Alechinsky - 1967-1969

Pierre Alechinsky’s Le Test du Titre (1967) and Alechinsky (1969) are two significant early publications that offer valuable insight into the Belgian artist’s engagement with the relationship between image, text, and the medium of the book. They represent, respectively, an important example of the artist’s book and a rare exhibition publication documenting a key period in Alechinsky’s career.

Le Test du Titre, published in 1967 by the renowned Parisian avant-garde publisher Éric Losfeld, is a first-edition artist’s book featuring six works by Alechinsky, for which 61 artists, writers, and cultural figures were invited to propose titles. In this experimental interplay between image and language, a single work is opened to multiple interpretations through different textual responses. The publication reflects Alechinsky’s interest in combining painting, writing, personal association, and artistic dialogue. Its distinctive binding, featuring richly textured marbled paper with a simple central title label, further transforms the book itself into a complete artistic object rather than a conventional catalogue or monograph.

Alechinsky, published in 1969, is a rare large-format exhibition catalogue documenting the artist’s exhibition held in Brussels from 7 January to 2 February 1969, which subsequently travelled to Copenhagen and Düsseldorf. The lithographically printed cover, together with a two-page Flemish-language insert and a chronology of the artist, makes the publication an important documentary source for understanding Alechinsky’s artistic development and exhibition activity during the 1960s.

Together, these two publications present complementary aspects of Alechinsky’s practice: Le Test du Titre demonstrates his experimental exploration of the dialogue between image and language, while Alechinsky provides important documentation of his artistic career and exhibition history during a formative period. Both are of particular interest to collectors and researchers of Alechinsky, CoBrA, European post-war avant-garde art, and artist’s books.