René Guiette

About

The Belgian painter René Guiette went pursuing his university studies. Self-taught, but introduced to painting by his father Jules Guiette, he devoted himself to this art in 1919. Then he studied Eastern philosophies and esoteric. He stayed in Paris and became friends by Blaise Cendrars and Max Jacob.

In 1925, Le Corbusier draws the plans of a home for René Guiette. The house was eventually built in Antwerp in 1926 by architect Paul Smekens. This house, became a historical monument in 1978 and is the only Le Corbusier building in Belgium and is the subject of a request for classification as World Heritage by UNESCO.

In 1928, the young Expressionist artist is taken under contract at the Centaure gallery. He illustrated poets and defended Flemish Expressionism through articles in the "Sélection" journal.

From 1932, Guiette is moving more towards photography and became a photography professor at the Graduate School of La Cambre in Brussels in 1946.

Shortly before the Second World War, he worked as an amateur wine maker and merchant while he painted a fresco in the house of the architect Léon Stynen.

In 1948, following its new aesthetic orientation, he became a member of the "Société de l'Art Brut" that was created by Jean Dubuffet. Moreover, this year, Guiette also published articles on art in Antwerp journals "Le Matin" and "La Métropole", under the pseudonym Blaise Distel.

In 1951, the Parisian art critic Michel Tapie defended the painter. Meanwhile, the artist was invited to many international exhibitions.

In 1955, he was part of the team of painters defended by the Stadler gallery in Paris and thus he met with Tapiès, Tobey, Sam Francis and Georges Mathieu.

From 1955, influenced by Zen philosophy, his painting evolved towards a transcendent calligraphy. His works are in charge of graffiti or contain purified signs that invite contemplation. Guiette employed many times an oil painting technique with sand on paper.