‘Then and now’ by Pol Spilliaert
“I believe it was Plato who wrote that we will fail in creating a work of art if we rely solely on technique and reason. What is also needed is the madness and the inspiration of the Muses”. Pol Spilliaert.
This sculpture ‘Toen en Nu’ ( ‘Then and Now’ , 2001-2003 ) by Pol Spilliaert (1935- 2023) came out of the personal collection of the artist. The work is made of plaster and it’s an abstract and quite rigid depiction of a couple in a loving embrace. The image is sober and at the same time full of expression. The interplay between abstract lines and more organic shapes make this piece a typical piece in Spilliaerts oeuvre. Spilliaert made this work after a 6 month period of sickness, followed by travels to Japan and Saintes in France. On the last trip, where he studied Roman art pieces, the ideas for works like ‘The Swing’ (De Schommel) and ‘Then and now’ started flowing again.
There’s a fine hairline of a crack on on of the right hand edges and a few restaurations were made on the base but overall it’s in a good condition. The use of paint on the work seems to be intentional. Spilliaert made also another version in stone of this work. There’s also a bronze version of the same work, depicted in the book ‘Pol Spilliaert’ by Jaak Fontier.
We have another work by Pol Spilliaert in unfired clay for sale, ‘Gevormd door de wind’ (‘Formed by the wind’), that he made in the 1980’s.
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Dimensions:
W: 39 cm
D: 26 cm
H: 60 cm
Weight: approx. 10 kilo
Material: plaster, paint
Pol Spilliaert, born in Bruges in 1935. Spilliaert studied at La Cambre in Brussels under key figures such as principal Léon Stynen, graduating with laureate honors in 1959. He also studied under sculptors George Grard and Charles Leplae, part of the Belgian lyrical abstraction movement. He was also a teacher himself at the Rijksnormaalschool in Hasselt (1962 till 1965) and Blankenberge (1964-1967). Between 1967 and the year 2000 he was also a sculpture professor at Sint-Lukas
In his artist philosophy, he was inspired by other sculptors like Brancusi: “achieving the right mental state is more crucial than physical execution”.
He saw sculpture as a constant quest. or as Spilliaert puts it: “I see sculpture as a play of shapes in which rhythm and ratio determine the value of the play”, says Spilliaert. “My sculpture is, to me, the expression of my inner longing—a longing for something new, again and again”.
The result are purified compositions, crystalizing formless feelings. Spilliaerts compositions have a strong focus on balancing organic versus geometric shapes, creating an interesting tension. The work is mainly abstract but the man-woman theme is recurrent in his work, albeit in a rigourously stylized form. His sculptures have a big level of energy that seems to almost burst out from within.
The titles of his work come natural to Spilliaert: “The titles I gave to my statues, always stay connected to an event, a poem I read, a movie, a journey undertook, a walk in nature, the feeling of a moment while working, the mood at a certain point in time, the poetic contribution of an inspiration or an environment”.
Spilliaert liked to work with different materials. He was fond of marble, but also used clay, bronze, Belgian blue stone and plaster. Often he made a small version and later on a monumental version of the same image. “I work very long on my small works. They are always the model for my bigger works” said Spilliaert in 1980.
Already early on in his career he received the Godecharle Prize for Sculpture in 1959 and his work can be found in Middelheimmuseum in Antwerp, Ostend and even Jedda in Saudi Arabia.
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