Walter Leblanc, renowned for his groundbreaking explorations into the interplay of material, light, and perception, is one of the key figures of the European avant-garde and a key protagonist of the ZERO and Nouvelle Tendance movements. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Leblanc began to cultivate his unique artistic approach around 1958, becoming a co-founder of the Antwerp avant-garde group “G58.” A few years later, he exhibited regularly with the German “ZERO” artists and participated in groundbreaking exhibitions such as “The Responsive Eye” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1965. As early as 1959, he introduced “Torsion” as a core element—a motif that would characterize his entire oeuvre. Made of cotton thread, plastic, or metal, these Torsions bring the structural character of the image to the fore and explore its potential, creating reliefs of movement, light, and vibration that transcend the traditional two-dimensionality of the canvas.

Tension, rhythm, and dynamism
The monumental three-part monochrome work “Twisted Strings 130C X 450, Phases I, II, III” represents Leblanc’s mature vision, in which rigorous formalism is fused with an almost mystical sensitivity to light and space. Each panel is a study of tension, rhythm, and the material's dynamic potential, inviting both contemplative observation and sensual experience. Created in 1976/77, the three panels show successive phases of sensory perception, their light and shadow gradients oriented according to their geometric structure. As a result, the viewer becomes part of the work and its conceptual whole. Leblanc emphasized this aspect a decade earlier: "A constructed art, non-formal, whose relief is animated by light and mobility, by the spectator’s movements. As s/he moves in front of the work, the spectator unwittingly participates in its recreation, gradually modifying the pictorial relations of the given structure." (Leblanc, 1965, quoted from: On the Subject of Mobilo-Static, originally written for the exhibition "The Responsive Eye" at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1965, and published in: Exhibition catalog V. Biennale internazionale d’arte contemporanea, Palazzo del Kursaal, San Marino 1965, today Pola 2017, p. 78).
The neatly twisted cotton threads are embedded in precise geometric configurations and sewn directly into the canvas, creating a duality of intensity and serenity. By stretching and twisting the threads, Leblanc blurs the boundaries between painting and sculpture, creating a vibrant optical effect. Light and space are not only suggested in this work, they are actually present: a concrete, material structure that captivates and mesmerizes the viewer. [KA]