Geert Opsomer - Alleen Kunst En? (2002) Silkscreen £595

Masereel:
Ten years of prints made at the
Frans Masereel Centre, Belgium

20 September - 08 November 2003

This Autumn, Edinburgh Printmakers is hosting an exhibition of works by 37 International artists made during a ten year period at The Frans Masereel Centre.

Andrew Atkinson
Ivan Durt
Goedele Peeters*
June August
Marnix Everaert*
Emilia Persu
Martin R. Baeyens*
Evelien Gysen*
Manuel Ros
Jacquelien Beenen*
Lynwood Kreneck
Maristela Salvatori
Kim Berman
Ingrid Ledent
Walter Selenuk
Andrea Carini*
Pam Longobard*
Margriet Thissen
Babette Cooymans*
Cecilia Mandrile*
Hilde Van Den Heuvel
Marian Cordero
Joris Martens*
Chris Van Der Veken
Beniti Cornelis
Kathryn Maxwell
Jan Vandeweghe
Marie-Antoinette Courtens
Ricardo Mojardin
Hans Verdyck*
Diederik De Clercq*
Wayne Montecalvo
Linda Vinck
Ronny Delrue
Laura Moriarty
Nathalie Delafontaine
Geert Opsomer*

Founded in 1972, The Frans Masereel Centre is the Flemish Centre for the Graphic Arts. Located in the Flemish countryside, it is a progressive international centre for the contemporary visual arts with a focus on the printed image.

It is a centre for creation, but also for the communication of knowledge, international co-operation, research and public participation. Contacts and the exchange of ideas are essential to the positive evaluation of the centre, which is visited annually by more than 100 artists, both emerging and established.

The works on display in this exhibition demonstrate incredibly diverse approaches to traditional printmaking techniques: silkscreen, intaglio, woodcut and lithography. These techniques, styles and concepts, give an intriguing insight into international printmaking practice and ideas over the last ten years.
Frans Masereel was born in Blankenberge, a resort on the Belgian coast, on 30th July 1889. He studied at the Academy of Fine Art in Ghent and was considered an exceptionally gifted student. He soon started travelling, to England, Switzerland, Tunisia and elsewhere, and settled in Geneva on the eve of the First World War.

In 1917 he made his debut with several pacifist albums. Together with the brothers Cantré and Henri van Straeten, he rejuvenated the art and technique of the woodcut. Between 1919 and 1923 he produced numerous individual sheets, as well as such picture stories as Idee, Mon Livre d'heures and Souvenirs de mon pays... He also illustrated books by Teirlinck, Zweig, Streuvels and others. He remained active until the end of his days because he continued to believe in his message of human brotherhood.

His pacifism meant he was no longer welcome in his native country so in 1921 he settled in Paris and then in 1949 in Nice. He died in Avignon on 03 January 1972 and was buried on the Campo Santo in St Amandsberg near the River Scheldt. During the funeral ceremony, the then Minister of Dutch-language Culture announced that the centre for the graphic arts in Kasterlee, only recently purchased, would be named after Frans Masereel.

* Copy of CV available on request.