WALTER LEBLANC (Silly, Belgium, 1932-Antwerp, Belgium, 1986). "Torsion Mobilo-Static", 1963-1972. Polyvinyl strips mounted on board. Unique piece. Signed, dated and titled on the back. With inscriptions. Enclosed is a certificate issued by the Boon Gallery. Bibliography: -Leblanc, N. "Walter Leblanc: catalogue raisonné", Ludion, Ghent, 1997, n.562/PF 630. Measurements: 27 x 27 cm; 40 x 40 cm (frame). Walter Leblanc's "twists" were his great contribution to the art world, especially in the field of optical and kinetic art. The Belgian artist stretched and twisted materials such as painted cotton threads and plastic ribbons over a traditional support to create simple geometric shapes and lightning-like patterns that caused the illusion of movement. "Torsion Mobilo-Static" is one of the most successful examples of this unique technique, which turns twisting into a pictorial element in itself by bringing light, movement and vibration. He developed torsions in two-dimensional and three-dimensional works, expanding the notions of painting and sculpture. Walter Leblanc is an important Belgian figure in post-war European art, within the international neo-avant-garde network of the Nouvelle Tendance. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Leblanc became a founding member of the Antwerp avant-garde group G58. The exhibition "Anti-Peinture" (1962), which he curated at G58-Hessenhuis, served as a manifesto. After a figurative, abstract and later monochrome period, Leblanc left painting for good. In 1959, he began to introduce "twisting" as an important pictorial element in his work. These twists - made with cotton, plastic or metal threads - allowed him to bring movement, light and vibration to his reliefs and sculptures. Leblanc actively participated in pioneering international exhibitions such as Monochrome Malerei (1960, Leverkusen), The Responsive Eye (1965, MoMA, New York) and Serielle Formationen (1967, Frankfurt am Main). In 1964 he won the prestigious Young Belgian Art Prize and in 1970 he participated in the 35th Venice Biennale. From 1977 until his early death in 1986, Leblanc was a professor at the Instituut voor Archite. In 1984, Leblanc's works are featured in several museum exhibitions, including Vlamingen in Venetië, at the Dhondt-Dhaenens Museum in Deurle; Géométrie de la matière, at the Foundation of Contemporary Belgian Art; and Surface sculpturale, at Atelier 340 in Brussels, which will travel to Warsaw in 1985 and Krakow in 1986. Holds a solo exhibition with Frank Nietveld in Brasschaat. The province of Antwerp acquires a work. In 1985, the Lenz Collection is exhibited in public for the first time at the Carolino-Augusteum Museum in Salzburg. Walter and Nicole spend the summer on the island of Naxos in the Cyclades (Greece). The Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp acquires a third work. He creates an architectural installation for the lobby of the ABN Amro Bank, Brussels. On January 14, 1986, Walter Leblanc dies in a car accident on his way to the Brussels Museum of Modern Art to finish the lighting of the group exhibition Rapports Plan/Espace - Tussen Vlak en Ruimte. In 1989, three years after Leblanc's death, three museums organized retrospective exhibitions of his work: the Wilhelm-Hack Museum in Ludwigshafen, the Josef Albers Museum in Bottrop, Germany, and the Salzburg Museum in Austria.