Bourlard Fred

Fred Bourlard, whose real name is Alfred Bourlard, born in Schaerbeek (Brussels capital) on January 19, 1929 and died in Evere (Brussels capital) on September 6, 2013, is a Belgian painter and engraver. Although very eclectic, his style is characterized by figurative surrealism. Fred Bourlard graduated in graphic arts from the Sint-Luc Institute in Schaerbeek in 1949. At the same time, he perfected his skills from 1946 to 1949 at the Helstrom Workshop, the Brussels Academy and the Sint-Joost-Ten-Noode Academy. During the 1940-1945 war, the Bourlard family was devastated by the bombing of the family business, forcing Fred Bourlard to combine his ambitions as an artist with a dull professional career as an industrial photographer for years. During this period we know of only one personal exhibition in 1961 in Brussels of which no written trace has been preserved, but many works are exhibited, such as the portrait of his wife Georgette “Femme fleur”. It was by chance during school work that Fred Bourlard rediscovered the immense source of inspiration that constitutes the ancient Egyptian, Cretan, Greek, Etruscan and Roman arts and their countless representations drawn directly from mythology and the Bible. These themes will return until the end of his activities in 2010. Between 1973 and 1985, Fred Bourlard regularly participates in individual and group exhibitions at home and abroad. From 1974 to 1979 he received full training in engraving techniques at the Academy of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek under the guidance of his teacher Louis Collet, whose friend he would become2. Fred Bourlard never felt comfortable in the spotlight, in 1986 he decided to end his public career. Strongly attracted by tags, street art or urban art and the art brut collection of Jean Dubuffet, Fred Bourlard explored new techniques from 1995 in a style that until 2010 became a hybrid between painting and sculpture. (cf. family email)