Georges Carrey Exhibition "Georges Carrey and the artists of the

Exhibition "Georges Carrey and the artists of the deconstructed reality"
From May 29 to June 27, 2015
If the non-figurative painting was slow to find its audience in Belgium, some artists like Georges
Carrey broke through this hostile indifference by exploring demanding routes between realism and
abstraction. For its first exhibition, MB-XL sheds lights on the most interesting proposals that
accompanied and extended this artist’s work.
Georges Carrey
BIOGRAPHY: Born in Paris in 1902, Georges Carrey moved
when twenty years old in Brussels where he married in 1941.
Initially a commercial artist and cartoonist for several
magazines, he turned to a career in art and then to abstract
painting in the 40s. Its aesthetic and intellectual journey allows
him to meet Nicolas de Stael, with whom he befriends and
shares the same workshop. He participated alongside Jo
Delahaut, Paul Bury and Jean Saverys to the foundation of
the Belgian group Art Abstrait. Hailed by critics, exhibited at
the Salon d’October (as Alechinsky, Messagier or Nallard ...)
and in several Parisian galleries, such as the Ariel gallery of
Jean Pollak. Georges Carrey died of a heart attack at the age
of 51.
Georges Carrey © Alain Speltdoorn, MB-XL
WORK: Worked with a knife and a brush, Georges Carrey’s
paintings explore initially a range of colours where the grey (that
the artist borrows from the walls of the city) dominates. The
discovery of the Ravenna mosaics during a trip to Italy in 1951,
incite him to fragment more vigorously his colourful touches that
are gaining pace and intensity. Subsequently, the shapes
become more and more geometric and create compositions with
various dynamics. The compositions created gradually leave more
room for the white colour that eventually invade the space.
Despite the apparent spontaneity of the movement imparted on the
canvas, the compositions of Georges Carrey are the result of a
rigorous preparatory work. Executed with the precision of a
musical work interpreter, the gesture is always mastered and offers
almost metaphysical balance.
Georges Carrey © Alain Speltdoorn, MB-XL
Other artists of the exhibition :
- Lucien Guinotte
- Charles Drybergh
- André Queffurus (Fr.)
- Elias
- Jean Bilquin
- Shinjo Saito (Jap.)
- Raoul Vanden Heede
- Anton Heyboer (Nl.)
Main exhibitions of Georges Carrey
Museums and salons :
• 1991 « Georges Carrey, Au delà de la figuration 1946-1953 », Nicolas de Staël Art Center,
Braine-l’Alleud
• 1987 « Rondom Art Abstrait », Provinciaal Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Ostende
• 1986 « Autour du groupe Art-Abstrait 1952-1956 », Centre wallon d’art contemporain, Ramet
• 1977 « Le groupe Art-Abstrait 1952-1956 », Musée des Beaux-Arts, Liège
• 1953 IXe Salon de Mai, Paris
• 1953 Salon quadriennal de Belgique, Liège
• 1952 Galerie Gissi, Turin
• 1952 Salon de Mai , Paris
• 1952 Salon d’Octobre, Paris
• 1951 Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, (avec Herbin, Delaunay, Pevsner…), Paris
Galleries :
Solo :
• 1983 Galerie Jan De Maere, Bruxelles
• 1981 « Hommage à Carrey », International Art Gallery, Lasne
• 1953 « Carrey, peintures récentes », Galerie Ariel, Paris
• 1952 Galerie Arnaud, Paris
• 1951 Galerie 55, Paris
• 1950 Galerie de Beaune, Paris
• 1947 Galerie Lou Cosyn, first non-figurative exhibition, text from Roger Van Gindertael and
Madeleine Bourdouxhe, Brussels
• 1945 Galerie Ars, Kortrijk
Collective exhibitions :
• 1987 Galerie Jan De Maere, Knokke
• 1987 « Abstractie 1940-1960 », Arkade, Mechelen
• 1983 8th Foire d’Art Actuel, Brussels
• 1982 « Belgische kunst na 45 », Galerie Jan De Maere, Knokke
• 1982 « Belgische kunst na 45 », Kunstgalerij De Vuyst, Lokeren
• 1957 « Esthétique d’aujourd’hui », Casino, Knokke
• 1953 « Peintres belges contemporains », Toulon
• 1953 « Art Abstrait », (with Bury, Burssens, Delahaut, Plomteux, Milo, Saverys), Palais des
Beaux-arts, Brussels
• 1953 « Art Abstrait », Antwerp
• 1953 « Situation de la peinture aujourd’hui », Galerie Ariel, (with Hartung, de Staël,
Manessier,…), Paris
• 1953 « Exposition de peintures et de sculptures contemporaines », (with Istrati, Mathieu, de
Staël, Tal Coat, Viera da Silva, Manessier,…), Galerie des Deux Garçons, Aix-en-Provence
• 1952 « Divergences », Galerie de Babylone and Galerie Arnaud, Paris
• 1938 "Jeune Peinture Belge", Galerie Arenberg, Brussels
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