Biography Luc Peire
° July 7, 1916 in Bruges
† February 7, 1994 in Paris
1930 - 1935
Luc Peire takes evening classes at the Bruges “Academy of Fine Arts” during the school years 1930-1931, 1932-1933, 1934-1935. From 1932 he took evening classes, simultaneously with his studies at the day school of the Higher Institute for Art and Craft Education St. Luke’s School in Ghent (1932-1935).
1935 - 1940
Around 1935, Luc Peire becomes personally acquainted with Constant Permeke who strongly influences him. In 1935 he passes the entrance exam to the Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where he works five years (until 1940) in Gustave Van de Woestijne’s studios..
1938 - 1942
1938 – Luc Peire’s first solo exhibition is organized in Bruges.
1942 – Luc Peire wins the 1941 Napoléon Godecharle Foundation Competition
1945 - 1948
In 1945, Luc Peire became a member of La Jeune Peinture Belge. Together with Rik Slabbinck and Jack Godderis, he belongs to the “La tradition flamande tendency.
In November 1946, wins the Rome Prize for Painting.
Together with Rik Slabbinck and Jack Godderis, Luc Peire on March 15th 1947 resigns from La Jeune Peinture Belge.
During the winter of 1947-1948, he undertakes a five month culture and study trip to Italy and Sicily. He admired the work of Giotto and Piero della Francesca.
1949 - 1951
On Feb. 25, 1949, Luc Peire married Jenny Verbruggen in Bruges.
During the winter months of 1949-1950, he traveled to the south of Spain and to Morocco on a travel bursary.
In the fall of 1950, he traveled to the Balearic Islands and learned the technique of al fresco painting.
In the spring of 1951, he traveled on from Palma (de Mallorca) through Ibiza, Alicante, Granada, Seville and Algeciras toward Rabat (Morocco).
1952 - 1954
Nominated by the committee for artistic relations between Belgian-Congo and Belgium, Luc Peire left for Belgian-Congo on March 9, 1952 on a study trip via Spain, Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
Around April 10, 1953, he arrived in the Canary Islands from Matadi (Belgian Congo) and stayed in Santa Cruz de Tenerife through November 1953. Luc Peire develops a close friendship with Eduardo Westerdahl, who guides his artistic direction. A lasting artistically enriching and fruitful friendship comes about with architect and art theoretician Alberto Sartoris.
In September 1953, the first Luc Peire monography was published in Spanish written by Eduardo Westerdahl.
In December 1953, he met Catalan sculptor Josep María Subirachs in Barcelona.
1954 - 1957
Luc Peire spent the winter period 1954-1955 in Victor Servranckx’s mini-studio in Paris. He meets Michel Seuphor in Paris.
After spending the winter in Paris, he returned to Knokke in 1955 and created his first graphies.
Along with K.N. Elno, Luc Peire organized “esthétique d’aujourd’hui/forms of today” in Knokke in 1957, an exhibition with international resonance.
1958 - 1959
In 1958, Luc Peire was entrusted with the position of Art Advisor to the Section of Belgian-Congo and Ruanda-Urundi within the framework of the General World Exhibition in Brussels (Expo ’58).
At the invitation of Leo Breuer, Luc Peire takes part in the 13ème Salon des Réalités Nouvelles/Nouvelles Réalités in Paris.
The period from November 1958 until (probably) end-April 1959 he spent at Golfe-Juan in southern France.
In 1959, Luc Peire goes to live in Paris. From now on Luc Peire customarily spends his winters in Paris and summers in Knokke.
1960 - 1961
In 1960, the Groupe Mesure was founded in Paris. Luc Peire is co-founder.
From November 25 to December 31, 1960, Hélène Pillement organized the first solo exhibition Luc Peire in Paris at her Galerie Hautefeuille. Via this solo exhibition Luc Peire first comes into contact with phonetic poet Henri Chopin. He has subsequently participated in the journal Cinquième Saison (editor: Henri Chopin) and produces graphies as ‘objective poetry’ in space, with texts by Henri Chopin, René Garnier, Edmond Humeau and Michel Seuphor.
On June 24, 1961, Luc Peire receives the Grand Prize for Painting of Knokke.
On July 5, he wins the Grand Prize for Painting 1961 of the city of Ostend.
1962 - 1963
In 1962, Luc Peire takes part in Salon des Comparaisons in Paris.
Together with Henri Chopin and Swiss cineast Tjerk Wicky, Luc Peire presents the experimental short-length film Pêche de nuit in a world première screening at Knokke in August 1963.
1964 - 1966
On Jan. 31, 1964, Luc Peire wins the Prix Floréal of the 5ème Biennale de Peinture of Menton.
At the recommendation of Pierre Soulages he takes up engraving again, working here with the Atelier Lacourière-Frélaut in Paris. The collaboration with the Atelier Lacourière-Frélaut lasted through 1969.
In 1965 he became a member of the hanging committee of Salon des Réalités Nouvelles and remained so until 1972.
In October 1965, Luc Peire left for America for six months and discovered New York, where he was able to work in the free studio of his Canadian friend-artist York Wilson.
During his stay in America, Luc Peire made a trip to Mexico during the first fortnight of February 1966.
On the occasion of Luc Peire’s fiftieth birthday, a “Retrospective Exhibition” was organized that year at the Stedelijk Groeninge Museum in Bruges.
1967
In 1967, Luc Peire realized the graphite walls of his ENVIRONNEMENT (1967, ILP 777) in his studio in Knokke. The work is being exhibited for the first time in Paris at the Musée National d’Art Moderne.
That year he joined the group of engravers Cap d’Encre.
1968
In 1968, Luc Peire was invited for the first time to participate in the XXXIV Biennale di Venezia (Belgian Pavilion).
Through the efforts of and supported by the advice of Mathias Goeritz, Luc Peire is able to undertake his Ambiente Mexico 68 (1968, ILP 1106) at the invitation of the organizing committee of the 19th Olympics in Mexico and of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma van Mexico.
The integration work Wall Relief 68 for J. van Breda & C° (Bank van Breda) in Borgerhout-Antwerp was completed in late 1968.
1969 - 1974
In January 1969, Jean Mil completes his short film Luc Peire’s Environment.
On 02.04.1969, Luc Peire attends the opening of Centre CO-MO in Paris.
On 12.04.1973 Luc Peire leaves for Auckland (arriving 25.4.1973) to assist with the installation of Environment III (ILP 1107) and attend the opening of the exhibition. This is the central part of a long journey during which he visits India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan.
He participates in Salon des Réalités Nouvelles in Paris for the last time in 1973 and attends Grands et Jeunes d’aujourd’hui in Paris for the first time.
On 25.10.1973 he left for Varigotti where a studio is placed at his disposal until the end of December 1973, in order to prepare a solo exhibition with graphies in Milan (Galleria Lorenzelli, 05.1974).
1975 - 1979
In 1975, Luc Peire assists in the project of La Ville Nouvelle de Marne la Vallée (Centre Urbain Régional de Noisy le Grand; Le Pavé Neuf), artistically coordinated by Erwin Patkaï.
For his sixtieth birthday (1976), a solo exhibition (‘Aspekten Luc Peire’) was organized in Knokke at the ‘Scharpoord’ Meeting Centre .
Through contact with gallery owner and publisher Carmen Martinez, Luc Peire was able to use the house with artist Roberta González’s studio in Bormes-les-Mimosas to paint and engrave from New Year to Easter 1977.
In March 1979, he traveled to Santa Cruz de Tenerife and met again with Eduardo Westerdahl. From there he travels to Lanzarote and makes an excursion. There he admires the art of Cesar Manrique.
1980 - 1984
Luc Peire stayed and worked in an apartment in Gandía, Spain (near Valencia) from January 1980 to early March 1980 in preparation for a solo exhibition in Gandía (Galería Lucas).
From December 31, 1980 to January 14, 1981, Jenny and Luc Peire traveled to Egypt with Club Méditerranée.
In 1981, he participates for the last time in the Comparaisons exhibition .
In March 1982, Luc Peire spent a short time in Sweden on the occasion of the Stockholm International Art Expo.
On May 7, 1982, the metro station Roodebeek with the integration Art fencing Station Roodebeek (Integration Roodebeek) by Luc Peire was opened in Brussels.
On October 2, 1982, Place Carrée in Marne la Vallée opened (La Ville Nouvelle; Centre Urbain Régional de Noisy le Grand; Le Pavé Neuf).
1985 - 1989
A remarkable “Rétrospective de Luc Peire” was organized at Musée d’Art Moderne du Nord in Villeneuve d’Ascq in 1985.
In 1988, he was selected to represent Belgium at the Olympiade des Arts/Olympiad of Art in Seoul, South Korea.
In December 1988, he traveled to Stockholm as part of the exhibition “Luc Peire / Rétrospective 1954-1984 / Toiles et graphies” at the Institut Français.
The solo exhibition “Luc Peire, 50 peintures de 1951 à 1988 / l’oeuvre gravé” at Musée du Luxembourg in Paris (1989) has a great resonance.
1990 - 1994
In February 1992, Luc Peire donated his entire graphic oeuvre to the City of Bruges.
On Dec. 8, 1992, in Leuven, Peires Teken U.Z. Gasthuisberg was inaugurated.
On Jan. 19, 1993, Jenny Peire-Verbruggen, wife of Luc Peire, died in Knokke. Her last months of life were spent together in the studio apartment in Knokke.
Luc Peire died Feb. 7, 1994, at the Institut Curie in Paris aged 77.
Funeral services were held on Feb. 14, 1994, at the Père Lachaise crematorium in Paris.
On Feb. 26, 1994, Luc Peire’s ashes were interred in the columbarium of the Park Cemetery in Knokke, next to the urn of Jenny Peire-Verbruggen.
1930 - 1935
Luc Peire takes evening classes at the Bruges “Academy of Fine Arts” during the school years 1930-1931, 1932-1933, 1934-1935. From 1932 he took evening classes, simultaneously with his studies at the day school of the Higher Institute for Art and Craft Education St. Luke’s School in Ghent (1932-1935).
1935 - 1940
Around 1935, Luc Peire made a personal acquaintance with Constant Permeke who influenced him greatly. In October 1935, he took the entrance exam at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Antwerp and worked there for five years (until 1940) in Gustave Van de Woestijne’s studios.
1938 - 1942
1938 – Luc Peire’s first solo exhibition is organized in Bruges.
1942 – Luc Peire becomes laureate of the 1941 Napoléon Godecharle Foundation Competition.
1945 - 1948
In 1945, Luc Peire became a member of La Jeune Peinture Belge. Together with Rik Slabbinck and Jack Godderis, he belongs to the trend of “La tradition flamande.
In November 1946, he became a laureate of the Rome Prize for painting.
Along with Rik Slabbinck and Jack Godderis, he resigned from La Jeune Peinture Belge on 15.03.1947.
During the winter of 1947-1948, he made a cultural and study trip of more than 5 months to Italy and Sicily. He admired the work of Giotto and Piero della Francesca.
1949 - 1951
On Feb. 25, 1949, Luc Peire married Jenny Verbruggen in Bruges.
During the winter months of 1949-1950, he traveled south (Spain, Morocco) on a travel grant to Spain.
In the fall of 1950, he traveled to the Balearic Islands and learned the technique of al fresco painting.
In the spring of 1951, he traveled on from Palma (de Mallorca) through Ibiza, Alicante, Granada, Seville and Algeciras toward Rabat (Morocco).
1952 - 1954
Appointed by the commission for artistic relations between Belgian-Congo and Belgium, Luc Peire left for Belgian-Congo on March 9, 1952 on a study tour via Spain, Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
Around April 10, 1953, he arrived in the Canary Islands from Matadi (Belgian Congo) and stayed in Santa Cruz de Tenerife through November 1953. It comes to a strong artistic-directional and friendly contact with Eduardo Westerdahl. An enduring artistically enriching and fruitful friendship also developed with architect and art theorist Alberto Sartoris.
In September 1953, the first Luc Peire monograph was published in Spanish written by Eduardo Westerdahl.
In December 1953, he met Catalan sculptor Josep María Subirachs in Barcelona.
1954 - 1957
Luc Peire spent the winter period 1954-1955 in Victor Servranckx’s mini-studio in Paris. He meets Michel Seuphor in Paris.
After wintering in Paris, he returned to Knokke in 1955 and created his first graphies there.
Together with K.N. Elno, Luc Peire organized “esthétique d’aujourd’hui/forms of today” in Knokke in 1957, an exhibition with international resonance.
1958 - 1959
In 1958, Luc Peire was entrusted with the position of Art Advisor to the Section of Belgian-Congo and Ruanda-Urundi within the framework of the General World Exhibition in Brussels (Expo ’58).
At the invitation of Leo Breuer, Luc Peire participates in the 13ème Salon des Réalités Nouvelles/Nouvelles Réalités in Paris.
He spent the period from late November 1958 to probably late April 1959 in the southern French town of Golfe-Juan.
In 1959, Luc Peire moved to Paris. From now on, he generally stays in Paris in winter and in Knokke in summer.
1960 - 1961
In 1960, the Groupe Mesure was founded in Paris. Luc Peire is co-founder.
From November 25 to December 31, 1960, Hélène Pillement organized the first solo exhibition Luc Peire in Paris at her Galerie Hautefeuille. Through that solo exhibition, Luc Peire’s contact with the phonetic poet Henri Chopin begins. He subsequently collaborated on the magazine Cinquième Saison (editor: Henri Chopin) and realized graphies as “objective poems” in space, with texts by Henri Chopin, René Garnier, Edmond Humeau and Michel Seuphor.
On June 24, 1961, Luc Peire receives the Grand Prize for Painting of Knokke.
On July 5, he wins the Grand Prize for Painting 1961 of the city of Ostend.
1962 - 1963
In 1962, Luc Peire participates in Salon des Comparaisons in Paris.
Together with Henri Chopin and Swiss filmmaker Tjerk Wicky, Luc Peire presented the experimental phonetic short film Pêche de nuit in its world premiere in Knokke in August 1963.
1964 - 1966
On Jan. 31, 1964, Luc Peire was awarded the Prix Floréal of the 5ème Biennale de Peinture of Menton.
He re-engraved on the recommendation of Pierre Soulages, and in this regard he collaborated with the Atelier Lacourière-Frélaut in Paris. The collaboration with the Atelier Lacourière-Frélaut lasted through 1969.
In 1965 he became a member of the organizing committee of Salon des Réalités Nouvelles and remained so until 1972.
In October 1965, Luc Peire left for America for six months and discovered New York, where he was able to work in the free studio of his Canadian friend-artist York Wilson.
While in America, Luc Peire made a trip to Mexico during the first fortnight of February 1966.
On the occasion of Luc Peire’s fiftieth birthday, a “Retrospective Exhibition” was organized that year at the Stedelijk Groeninge Museum in Bruges.
1967
In 1967, Luc Peire realized the graphite walls of his ENVIRONNEMENT (1967, ILP 777) in his studio in Knokke. The work is being exhibited for the first time in Paris at the Musée National d’Art Moderne.
That year he joined the group of engravers Cap d’Encre.
1968
In 1968, Luc Peire was designated for the first time to participate in the XXXIV Biennale di Venezia (Belgian Pavilion).
Through the commitment and supportive advice of Mathias Goeritz, Luc Peire was able to realize his Ambiente Mexico 68 (1968, ILP 1106) at the invitation of the founding committee of the cultural program of the 19th Olympiad in Mexico and of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma of Mexico.
The integration work Wall Relief 68 for J. van Breda & C° (Bank van Breda) in Borgerhout-Antwerp was completed in late 1968.
1969 - 1974
In January 1969, Jean Mil completes his short film Luc Peire’s Environment.
On 02.04.1969, Luc Peire attends the opening of Centre CO-MO in Paris.
On 12.04.1973 he leaves for Auckland (arrival 25.04.1973), where he will assist in the mounting of his Environment III (ILP 1107) and attend the exhibition’s vernissage. This is the centerpiece of a major trip in which he visits India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan.
He participates in Salon des Réalités Nouvelles in Paris for the last time in 1973 and attends Grands et Jeunes d’aujourd’hui in Paris for the first time.
On 25.10.1973 he left for Varigotti where a studio was made available to him until the end of December, in preparation for a solo exhibition of graphies in Milan (Galleria Lorenzelli, 05.1974).
1975 - 1979
In 1975, Luc Peire participated in the project of La Ville Nouvelle de Marne la Vallée (Centre Urbain Régional de Noisy le Grand; Le Pavé Neuf), artistically coordinated by Erwin Patkaï.
For his sixtieth birthday (1976), a solo exhibition (‘Aspekten Luc Peire’) was organized in Knokke at the Ontmoetingscentrum ‘Scharpoord’ .
Through contact with gallery owner and publisher Carmen Martinez, Luc Peire was able to use the house with artist Roberta González’s studio in Bormes-les-Mimosas to paint and engrave from New Year to Easter 1977.
In March 1979, he traveled to Santa Cruz de Tenerife and met again with Eduardo Westerdahl. From there he travels to Lanzarote and makes an excursion. There he admires the art of Cesar Manrique.
1980 - 1984
Luc Peire stayed and worked in an apartment in Gandía, Spain (near Valencia) from January 1980 to early March 1980 in preparation for a solo exhibition in Gandía (Galería Lucas).
From December 31, 1980 to January 14, 1981, Jenny and Luc Peire take a trip to Egypt with Club Méditerranée.
In 1981, he participates for the last time in the exhibition Comparaisons.
In March 1982, Luc Peire spent a short time in Sweden on the occasion of the Stockholm International Art Expo.
On May 7, 1982, the metro station Roodebeek with the integration Art fencing Station Roodebeek (Integration Roodebeek) by Luc Peire was opened in Brussels.
On October 2, 1982, Place Carrée in Marne la Vallée opened (La Ville Nouvelle; Centre Urbain Régional de Noisy le Grand; Le Pavé Neuf).
1985 - 1989
A remarkable “Rétrospective de Luc Peire” was organized at Musée d’Art Moderne du Nord in Villeneuve d’Ascq in 1985.
In 1988, he was selected to represent Belgium at the Olympiade des Arts/Olympiad of Art in Seoul, South Korea.
In December 1988, he resit to Stockholm as part of the exhibition “Luc Peire / Rétrospective 1954-1984 / Toiles et graphies” at the Institut Français.
The solo exhibition “Luc Peire, 50 peintures de 1951 à 1988 / l’oeuvre gravé” at Musée du Luxembourg in Paris (1989) has a great resonance.
1990 - 1994
In February 1992, Luc Peire donated his entire graphic oeuvre to the City of Bruges.
On Dec. 8, 1992, in Leuven, Peires Teken U.Z. Gasthuisberg was inaugurated.
On Jan. 19, 1993, Jenny Peire-Verbruggen, wife of Luc Peire, died in Knokke. Her last months of life were spent together in the studio apartment in Knokke.
Luc Peire died Feb. 7, 1994, at the Institut Curie in Paris. He lived to be 77 years old.
Funeral services were held on Feb. 14, 1994, at the Père Lachaise crematorium in Paris.
On Feb. 26, 1994, Luc Peire’s ashes were interred in the columbarium of the Park Cemetery in Knokke, next to the urn of Jenny Peire-Verbruggen.
