Walter Leblanc Belgian, 1932-1986

Walter Leblanc (b. 1932 Antwerp - d. 1986 Silly, Belgium) was primarily interested in motion, both the illusion of movement and its physicality. After graduating at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp Leblanc began to introduce torsion in his work in 1959, initially on canvas and later in sculpture, employing new media such as vinyl, cotton thread, and latex. Stretching threads over the canvas and then painting them, he created ray-like structures that give the illusion of movement. In his monochrome and purified creations called Twisted Strings, he studies the incidence of light on twisted cotton threads and the shadow it projects. His research on Torsion, which also materializes in steel sculpture (lacquered or oxidized), unquestionably brings it closer to Kinetic Art and Op Art

In 1962 he organised the influential exhibition Anti-Peinture (Anti-Painting) in his hometown of Antwerp, he joined the international group Nouvelle Tendance and began to exhibit with the ZERO Group. From 1975 onwards, he broadened his language and created 3D sculptural Archetypes, nesting primary geometric shapes of triangles, quadrangles and circles.

In 1961 Leblanc had his first solo exhibition at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, In 1970, he took part in the 35th Venice Biennale and in 1974, he was appointed Knight of the Order of Leopold II. In 1977 he was appointed lecturer at the Nationaal Hoger Instituut voor bouwkunst in Stedebouw (NHIBS) in Antwerp.

Leblanc has been included in all recent major Zero exhibitions including ZERO: Countdown to Tomorrow at the Guggenheim, New York, 2014.