Walter Leblanc (1932 – 1986) is an important Belgian figure of European post-war art. Over the years, he has built an extremely coherent oeuvre staging light without artifice or any disrupting elements. Within the international, neo- avant-garde network of the Nouvelle Tendance, ZERO, op art, kinetic art, concrete art and (neo)constructivism, Leblanc gained both national and international recognition.
Jan Hoet described Walter Leblanc as “an artist who deserves a place in the international pantheon of art".
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 his manifesto. After a figurative, abstract and subsequent monochrome period, Leblanc put the paint away for good. In 1959 he began to introduce the ‘torsion’ as an important pictorial element in his work. These torsions – made from cotton threads, plastic or metal – allowed him to bring motion, light and vibration into his reliefs and sculptures.
Leblanc actively participated in ground-breaking 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 took part in the 35th Venice Biennale. From 1977 until his early death in 1986, Leblanc was teaching at the Instituut voor Architectuur en Stedenbouwkunde (NHIBS) in Antwerp.
His work is part of many important museum and private art collections worldwide, such as Centre Pompidou (Paris), Tate Modern (London), Museum Kunst Palast (Düsseldorf,) Josef Albers Museum (Bottrop), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), S.M.A.K. (Ghent), Mu.Zee (Ostend) and The Fine Arts Museums (Brussels).