Walter Leblanc: Sensorial Geometries

The Belgian artist Walter Leblanc (1932-1986) was an outstanding figure in post-World War II European art, whose importance is drawing international attention. This exhibition at Cortesi Gallery, curated by Francesca Pola and realized in collaboration with the Walter and Nicole Leblanc Foundation of Brussels, brings together pivotal examples of his work from the 1950s to the 1970s, presenting the significant periods of his creative activity.

Unquestioned is Leblanc’s place among the masters of what can be defined the ‘poetics of zeroing’ of the late 1950s, developed in the context of the ZERO movement and network between Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Italy. Considered one of the pioneers of contemporary artistic practices, rather than defining his work as geometric abstraction, his is a case of a sensorial geometry, constantly nourished by an experimental curiosity about unorthodox materials (such as cotton threads, latex, PVC, metal), as well as by a constructive tension and a focus on the dynamic power of light.