Page 52 - Studio International - October 1970

Belgian Nowadays Belgium is a kaleidoscope of various In Middelheim an exquisite collection has
views. There is the national view of the been brought together and a Biennial
commentary Flemings, the Walloons, the inhabitants of exhibition has been organized of which the
Brussels, and also the way the Common eleventh in the series was held last June.
Market Eurocrats, the international This event, which neither gave offence nor
businessmen, NATO and SHAPE look at our aroused enthusiasm, took place at a moment
country. This is perhaps the reason why the when similar exhibitions were in full crisis and
Antwerp assemblage artist Vic Gentils has when attention was drawn to what in the
designed a new tower of Babel. catalogue of Sonsbeek 1971 (Holland) is
All this results in the fact that abroad the formulated under the heading: 'From
Belgian image is extremely vague. It is quite exhibition to activity'.
understandable therefore that some authors It is also rather late to offer as a special
mean our country when they speak of Holland, contribution to a Biennial a choice from
and that others prefer to keep silent about it American art among which figure US
because they do not know where the head and sculptures chosen by the Smithsonian
the tail of this odd animal are to be found. Institute and Professor A. C. Ritchie, with
We are also probably the only people who, works inter alia by Sugarman, D. Smith,
at the beginning of whichever article, start with A. Calder, H. Ferber, R. Grosvenor, D. Hadzi,
explanations about our national structure. W. Horwitt, D. Judd, R. Morris, B. Rosenthal,
Our national geography, however, has quite L. Nevelson, B. Newman, C. Oldenburg,
recently been simplified by the cultural G. Rickey, S. Lipton, a choice in which
autonomy of our national communities, which nevertheless C. Andre, R. Bladen, S. LeWitt,
has been officially recognized and included in R. Smithson, K. Snelson et alia, are absent.
our constitution. Henceforth each community In our country so much is said and written
will attend to its cultural affairs as it thinks about renovation of the museums that one no
best. longer knows whether this is a sign of a turn of
This new situation which carries into effect the tide or an efficient soporific. However this
the cultural decentralization will, of course, may be, there are plans now for a Museum of
have far-reaching consequences for the evolution Modern Art in Brussels, thanks to a new and
of the artistic life in our country. History has active Museum Society which has financed the
shaped the Belgians into particularly liberal project studies. On the other hand a year ago
beings, in so far as liberalism means a Antwerp had the first symbolic stone laid of a
fundamental distrust of government interference new museum which is to be built on a site near
and central authority. Under various rules the Middelheim Park according to an old spiral
central authority in our country was in the project by Le Corbusier. Finally it is hoped that
hands of Spain, Austria, France or Germany. in the near future, thanks to the activity of the
The consequence of this distrust of central Society for the Museum of Contemporary Art,
power is that a most necessary modern cultural Ghent will also have at its disposal an
basic structure is lacking. independent Museum for Modern Art in order
Such a basic structure can of course be to display the collection which, next to that of
realized with private means on the condition Brussels, offers the most interesting survey of
that government and people are in perfect art since 1945, and includes a nucleus of
harmony. If this is not the case, only the English Painting with, for example, works by
Government can establish this basic structure Bacon, Hockney, Jones, Kitaj, Paolozzi and
in so far as it has the necessary means. Yet for a Phillips. During the summer months this
long time the slogan in our country has been: collection was exhibited in Saint Peter's Abbey
`Rather rich people and a poor government than in Ghent together with a new work by Vic
a rich government and poor people'. Gentils, namely a monument for the late Belgian
It will be understood that up till now with socialist leader Camille Huysmans who is
regard to their means and equipment the portrayed beside Lenin. The group of statues
museums are the Cinderellas of the national was made by assembling existing objects.
family. Unfortunately their poverty is not Together with his Game of Chess and Eight
compensated for by a dynamic and progressive Capital Sins this is the most important work
management. The museums delegate such by this highly gifted artist.
matters together with issues like 'museums as For lack of driving power and initiative in
centres of contemporary creativity' to the the museums one has to rely on the Government
cultural centres which everywhere in the for the promoting of contemporary art in
country are asked for, and which are in some Belgium, and on the societies, e.g. the museum
1 V. Gentils places already being built, independently of societies, the galleries and the collectors. The
Monument for C. Huysmans
Photo: Carl Uytterhaegen, Ghent the museums. Government organizes exhibitions of Belgian art
The only modern museum in the country, here and abroad.
2 Vlerick, Appel, Poliakoff, Raveel
`Art since 1945' at Saint Peter's Abbey, Ghent namely the Open Air Museum for Sculpture The most prominent Forum for present-day
Photo : Carl Uytterhaegen, Ghent in the beautiful Middelheim Park in Antwerp, art still remains the Palais des Beaux Arts in
3 Joan Mini owes its genesis in 195o to the fact that no Brussels, which does credit to its rather
Femme et Oiseau dans la Nuit
Knokke Casino museum was needed for it and that the pompous name.
Burgomaster of the city, Mr L. Craeybeckx, The management by the recently appointed
4 R. Raveel
Four Wooden Swans on the canals of Bruges made himself a cause out of it. director of this private institution, Mr J. Van
148