Maurice Wyckaert (1923–1996) was a Belgian artist born in Brussels. He is a neo-expressionistic, lyrical abstract painter, gouache designer and printmaker. He was educated at the Academy of Brussels (1940–47 and 1949–50) and in

Saint-Josse-ten-Noode Saint-Josse-ten-Noode () or Sint-Joost-ten-Node (), often simply called Saint-Josse or Sint-Joost, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the Ci ...

and the Vrije Atelier of

Woluwe-Saint-Lambert Woluwe-Saint-Lambert () or Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe (Dutch, ) is one of the nineteen municipalities in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. It is a prosperous residential area, with a mixture of flats and detached, semi-detached and terraced hous ...

. He debuted with wonderful expressionistic still life, reminiscent of Jean Brusselmans. Much early work dealt with stills of vegetables. Later Wyckaert became interested by William Turner and

James Ensor James Sidney Edouard, Baron Ensor (13 April 1860 – 19 November 1949) was a Belgian painter and printmaker, an important influence on expressionism and surrealism who lived in Ostend for most of his life. He was associated with the artistic g ...

and their ideas of luminism. In 1955 Wyckaert started to lyrically abstract interpret his environment, which contained noticeable influences of Eastern calligraphy. From this, he evolved to a dynamic abstract combination of attractive colors, which harmoniously shape a free interpretation of landscape. Although Wyckaert was already critically acclaimed, by receiving several honors such as the Jules Raeymaekers of the Royal Academy Award, an honorable mention by JPB (1957) and an honorable mention by Sao Paulo Art Biennial (1961), his true breakthrough began at the beginning of the 1970s. Around this time he started experimenting with gouache, printmaking and lithography. Wyckaert was known for his pro-active involvement in several art movements such as being the Co-founder of Belgian art magazine ''De Meridiaan'' and ''Taptoe Brussels'' (1955). Also he was a member of Présence (1949), the

Situationist International The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...

(SI) and the

International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus The International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus was a small European avant-garde artistic tendency that arose out of the breakup of COBRA, and was initiated by contact between former COBRA members Asger Jorn and Enrico Baj and Sergio Dange ...

Letter
and well known for his influence and intimate friendship with several CoBrA-members. He was honored by the SI to read th
''Declaration in the Name of the Fourth SI Conference to the Institute of Contemporary Arts,''
at the

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA c ...

on 28 September 1960. After the city of Brussels started with art projects to enhance their underground, Wyckaert was appointed to decorate the

Jacques Brel metro station Jacques Brel is a Brussels Metro station on the western branch of line 5. It is located in the municipality of Anderlecht, in the western part of Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capit ...

. He has exhibited his work in several renowned museums from Rome to

Sao Paulo SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S ...

Chief Editor of 'De Meridiaan'

''De Meridiaan'', later published as De kunst-meridiaan, was a

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

literary magazine that published bimonthly in Belgium and the Netherlands from 1951 until 1960. It was founded by Belgian artist Maurice Wyckaert, poet Clara Haesaert and her husband Gentil Haesaert. De Meridiaan was the main competitor of ''Tijd en Mens'', another literary magazine. Because of its success the magazine evolved from a basic regional magazine to a well-known international art magazine. In 1955 De Meridiaan founded ''Galerie Taptoe'', an artistic centrum, exhibition room and literary café in Brussels.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyckaert, Maurice Situationists Belgian artists 1996 deaths 1923 births 20th-century Belgian painters Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts alumni