Ensemble: Window on Infinity - Room 02
Photo: Christine Clinckx / M HKA
A universal language
During his training at the Antwerp academy, Jef Verheyen’s greatest discovery is the ceramics class and it is there that he meets Dani Franque, his future spouse. Together they travel to the ceramic workshops in the Southern French village of Vallauris, where Pablo Picasso also had his workshop. There they become familiar with the age-old basic forms of this craft. In 1955 Verheyen and Franque open their own ceramics studio in Antwerp. Its walls are graced with pictures of their sources of inspiration: a photo of Picasso hangs among photos of pre-Columbian and tribal sculptures; Indonesian dancers hang next to the cave paintings of Lascaux.
In the mid-1950s Verheyen rediscovers his love of painting. The atlas of images on his studio wall reminds him of the mystical ‘primal function’ of art. As Verheyen puts it: ‘Everyone can “feel” painting, everyone speaks our language… or at least, everyone is a conveyor of its primal forms.’
Media
>Installation view of ‘Jef Verheyen. Window on Infinity’ at KMSKA, in collaboration with M HKA and Jef Verheyen Archive, 2024.
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Works
>Jef Verheyen, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Certificate of the courses taken at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the National Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Antwerp, 1946-1954.Letter, ink on paper, 1 page.
>Dani Franque, Jef Verheyen, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Dani Franque (right) in the studio of the ceramics course taught by Olivier Strebelle at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, 1952.Photography, photograph.
>Jef Verheyen, Linocut, 1952.Drawing, linosnede, 18,2 x 24,7 cm.
>Adriaan Raemdonck, Jef Verheyen, • 0769 • Kruik, 1952.Ceramics, glazed earthenware, 13,5 x 19 cm.
>Jef Verheyen, Dani Franque, Dani Franque at the workshop Ceramics, Royal Academy of Arts, 1952.Photography, photograph.
>Jef Verheyen, Study, 1953.Drawing, ink, crayon and pencil on paper, 27 x 35,8 cm.
>Jef Verheyen, Postcard of the annual group exhibition in Vallauris (1953), design by Pablo Picasso, 1953.Postcard, ink on paper, 10 x 14 cm.
>Jef Verheyen, Copy of Pottery and Ceramics (ed. Ernst Rosenthal, 1954) from the artist’s library, 1954.Book, ink on paper.
>Dani Franque, Jef Verheyen, Collage with photographs of ceramics by Dani Franque and Jef Verheyen, 1955.Photography, collage with photographs on paper.
>Jef Verheyen, Dani Franque, Gerald Dauphin, Dani Franque and Jef Verheyen at Rubensstraat 14 in Antwerp, where they opened their ceramics shop Atelier 14, 1955.Photography, photograph.
>Jef Verheyen, Dani Franque, Frank Philippi, View of the shop window of Atelier 14 on Rubensstraat, Antwerp, 1955.Photography, photograph.
>Jef Verheyen, Design drawing for a three-faced ceramic pot, 1955.Ceramics, pencil on paper, 39,6 x 22,7 cm.
>Gianni Dova, Figures on the screen, 1956.Painting, 113.5 x 143.5 cm.
>Jef Verheyen, Guy Vaes, Walter Vanermen, • 0770 • Untitled (Als de binnenvorm de buitenvorm is), 1956.Ceramics, glazed earthenware, 26,5 x 11 x 10,5 cm.
>Jef Verheyen, • 0736 • Untitled , 1956.Painting, oil paint on masonite, 82 x 38.5 cm.
>Jef Verheyen, Jef Verheyen in front of his work Composition pour 5 blancs (Composition of 5 whites) in his studio on Rubensstraat, Antwerp, 1956.Photography, photograph.
>Jef Verheyen, Colour study, 1957.Drawing, watercolour on paper (two-sided), 26,8 x 35,7 cm.
>Jef Verheyen, • 0824 • Erotisch Keramisch, 1957.Drawing, ink on paper, 36,1 × 26,9 cm.
>Jef Verheyen, Copy of Art Sauvages (red. Claude Roy, 1957) from the artist’s library, 1957.Book, ink on paper.
>Jef Verheyen, Deutsche Buchgemeinschaft, • 0733 • Keramisch Wit, 1957.Ceramics, grog (chamotte), 120 cm (height).
>Leon In den Kleef, Jef Verheyen, • 0488 • Untitled (Mirror Mosaic) , 1957.Ceramics, ceramics and mirrored glass, 74.5 x 64 x 2 cm .
>Jef Verheyen, Lucio Fontana, Mario Bionda, Roberto Crippa, Journal with a.o. notes about the visit of Jef Verheyen to the studio of Lucio Fontana (February 1958), 1957-1959.Text, notebook, mixed media, 19,5 x 13,6 cm.
>Galerie Bernard, Jef Verheyen, • 0033 • Untitled, 1957.Painting, oil paint on fibreboard, 120 x 160 cm.
>Jef Verheyen, Callewaert Vanlangendonck Gallery, • 0029 • Untitled, 1957.Painting, oil paint on canvas, 100 x 81 cm.
>Jef Verheyen, Ivo Michiels, • 0827 • Zelfontmoeting (Self-Contemplation), 1958.Painting, oil paint on burlap, 200 x 114 cm.
>Jef Verheyen, Walter Vanermen, Vic Estercam, Paul Bervoets, Invitation to the fifth exhibition of G58 in Middelheim Castle, 1958.Invitation Card, ink on paper.
>Jozef Peeters, Paul De Vree, Untitled (after a schematic drawing from 1924), 1958.Painting, oil on canvas, 60 x 47 cm.
>Jef Verheyen, Ivo Michiels, Galleria Pater, Comhaire, André Comhaire, Invitation to the first exhibition in Galleria Pater, Milan, 1958.Invitation Card, ink on paper.
>Jef Verheyen, • 0458 • Monochromie, 1958.Painting, oil paint on burlap, 100 x 81 cm.
>Jef Verheyen, S.M.A.K. Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Vlaamse Gemeenschap / Flemish Community, • 0443 • Untitled, 1958.Painting, oil paint on canvas, 80 x 100 cm, 82 x 101 cm with frame.
>Jef Verheyen, Paul De Vree, • 0036 • Untitled (Saint-Paul-de-Vence), 1958.Painting, oil and sand on panel, 37,5 x 45,5 cm.
>Jef Verheyen, Guy Vaes, • 0035 • Untitled , 1958.Painting, oil paint on burlap, 83 x 102 cm.
>Jef Verheyen, Paul De Vree, Publication of the manifesto 'Essentialism' (1958) in the periodical De Tafelronde 8, nr. 3, 1963.Periodical, ink on paper.