WILLY ANTHOONS

Sculptor of the Belgian avant-garde, Willy Anthoons works under the training and influence of masters such as Jespers and Zadkine. He is a direct carver with wood as his preferred medium. A member of the Jeune Peinture Belge and the only representative of sculpture, Anthoons stands out for the simplicity and elegance of his forms. His work is a vision of life. His large slender woods, vertically or horizontally are beings. Willy Anthoons enriches post-war sculpture with the art of economy of means. After having created maternity wards and portraits, Anthoons purifies his forms and gives as much importance to the full as to the empty. Anthoons’ technique, both precise and spare, emphasizes the beauty of matter and form. His visionary work was born in the midst of the debate between advocates of abstraction and those who wanted to be attached to figuration.