De Bolle Francis

Francis De Bolle is a Belgian artist, born in Ixelles in 1939. He is a draftsman, painter, and primarily a graphic artist. He studied at Sint-Lucas in Sint-Gillis/Brussels under the guidance of G. Bertrand. In 1963, he won the Berthe Art Prize, in 1978 the Triennial Prize of Belgium for Engraving, and in 1988 the Jos Albert Prize. He employs a pure interplay of lines with a synthesized design in a vibrant color palette. Since the 1960s, he has worked on the boundary between figuration and abstraction, sometimes leaning towards figuration, as in the series “Portraits without Family”. He also produces completely abstract work, which comes across as a kind of nervous, graphic script. He was a co-founder of the Cap d’Encre Group. Francis De Bolle was a teacher at Sint-Lucas and Sint-Thomas in Brussels. His work can be found in the Print Cabinet in Liège and Brussels, as well as in the Museum in Brussels. He is listed in BAS I and Two Centuries of Signatures of Belgian Artists. (Piron)