Callewaert Vanlangendonck Gallery, founded in 2012 in Antwerp, Belgium, displays lyrical and geometrically abstract artists from the following groups: Cobra, Art Abstrait, Art Construit, Formes, G58, the New Flemish School and the ZERO movement.
Gallery owners Brecht Callewaert and Yoeri Vanlangendonck emphasize the importance and the contemporary character of the Belgian artists of the 1950s and 1960s. It shows how timeless, universal and cross-border this avant-garde art still is.
In addition to organizing retrospectives and group exhibitions, Callewaert Vanlangendonck Gallery publishes art books on its represented artists and manages the artist estate of Guy Vandenbranden (1926-2014), one of the most important Belgian constructivist artists. Guy Vandenbranden bequeathed his archives to Callewaert Vanlangendonck. The gallery then founded the ‘Estate Guy Vandenbranden’, which manages the artist’s oeuvre and promotes it at home and abroad. The gallery also works together with the Estate Jan Dries in promoting this G58-sculptor on an international level. Furthermore, the gallery has a vast collection of works by Cobra-artist Serge Vandercam, from his lyrical abstract period (1955-1962).
Guy Vandenbranden
1926 (Brussels, Belgium) – 2014 (Antwerp, Belgium)
Guy Vandenbranden was an important constructivist artist of the Belgian post-war art scene. Following Piet Mondriaan and Victor Vasarely, he attained total geometrical abstraction.
He assumed a key role in the international art scene of the late fifties, where he befriended artists like Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni, Yves Klein, Günther Uecker and François Morellet.
From 1951 onwards, Guy Vandenbranden started to work in a lyrically abstract way. In the Brussels art scene and became friends with Pol Bury, Jo Delahaut, Kurt Lewy, Jean Rets and Jean Milo. He joined the artists’ group “Art Abstrait” in 1956. Vandenbranden worked completely in a geometrically abstract fashion from 1954 on and practised this visual language consistently until his death in 2014. Around 1958, Vandenbranden worked in black and white mainly, his artworks almost evolving to monochromy and there was a clear connection with the work of the American Hard Edge of that time. From 1961 onwards, Vandenbranden started working with relief and his first abstract sculptures were created. From 1967 onwards he started to spray cellulose lacquer directly on panels with the aim to create visual illusions (akin to the Op Art).
In 1960, Vandenbranden, Jef Verheyen and Englebert Van Anderlecht established the New Flemish School . This artists’ group, including Paul Van Hoeydonck, Jan Dries and Vic Gentils, aimed to promote their art internationally with exhibitions in Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
Vandenbranden was part of several art movements: Art Abstrait, Formes and Art Construit. He had lifelong artistic friendships with Jef Verheyen, Vic Gentils and Walter Leblanc. He increasingly exhibited abroad (Switzerland, Italy, Germany and The Netherlands), where he befriended artists from the ZERO group.