PAUL VAN HOEYDONCK (Belgium, 1925). Untitled,... Lot 9

PAUL VAN HOEYDONCK (Belgium, 1925). Untitled, 1991, from the "Suite Olympic Centennial". Lithograph on 270 grams Vélin d'Arches paper, copy 210/250. Signed, dated and justified by hand. Size: 90 x 63 cm. The Olympic Suite is made up of 50 lithographs and serigraphs chosen to represent various contemporary artistic trends. It was published to commemorate the first centenary of modern Olympism. The artists chosen work in very diverse movements and styles, from the hyperrealism of Antonio López to the abstraction of Sol Lewitt, including abstract expressionism, the geometrism of Arden Quin, conceptual art, pop art, the new realism of Baldaccini and Rotella, and the new fauvism of Dokoupil, among others. Among the artists represented are creators of great international renown, widely recognised by the critics. Paul Van Hoeydonck was born in Antwerp on 8 August 1925, and took courses in Art History and Archaeology in Antwerp and Brussels, a period which ended in 1951.2 In 1952 he had his first solo exhibition at the Buyle Gallery in the same city. Van Hoeydonck created the work as a tribute to mankind's desire for expansion into outer space. This contrasts with Scott's view, who saw the work as a memorial, which Van Hoeydonck would later regret. The artist would go on to create more replicas of the original work, one of which is in the hands of the Smithsonian Institution; he would later continue to make copies for sale.