ROGER GREISCH
Poetic abstractions   

Roger Greisch (Arlon 1917 - Bütgenbach 1999)

1960's

"Composition"​ 1967, gouache (sold)

"Taches" 1968, oil on canvas, 70 x 80 cm

1970's

"Spring - Printemps" 1971, gouache, 35,5 x 27 cm

"Fragments" 1978, oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm

"Magic- Magie" 1979, oil on canvas, 72 x 92 cm

"Dominante de gris" 1979, oil on canvas, 60 x 70 cm

1980's

"Havre" 1980, oil on canvas, 90 x 100 cm (Sold)

"Arcs" ​1983, oil on canvas, 140 x 100 cm

"Anneaux" 1983, oil on canvas, 120 x 80 cm

"Polygone" 1984, oil on canvas, 140 x 100 cm

"Spring - Printemps" 1984, oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cm

"Dédales" 1984, gouache & ink on paper, 36 x 25,5 cm

"Composition" 1985, oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm

"Arcanes" 1986, oil on canvas, 120 x 80 cm

"Polygones"​ 1986, oil on canvas, 120 x 80 cm

"Expectative"​ 1986, oil on canvas, 120 x 80 cm

"Polygones" ​1986, oil on canvas, 70 x 80 cm

"Polygones" 1986, oil on canvas, 120 x 120 cm

"Variations" ​1987, oil on canvas, 120 x 120 cm

"Structure"​ 1987, oil on canvas, 72 x 50 cm

"Composition", oil on canvas, 91 x 71 cm

"Jeu de formes" 1987, oil on canvas, 65 x 54 cm

"Méditation" 1988, oil on canvas, 120 x 80 cm
​Illustration in Greisch Aktuell Verlag, p. 129

"Symphonie de Gris" 1988, oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm

"Nocturne"​ 1988, oil on canvas, 90 x 70 cm

"Linéaire bleue" ​1988, oil on canvas, 120 x 80 cm

"Géométrie"​ 1989, oil on canvas, 72,5 x 58,5 cm

"Linea"​ 1989, oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm

"Symphonie" 1989, oil on canvas, 72,5 x 58,5 cm

"Quo Vadis Belgium ? - Couleurs" 1989, oil on canvas, 72 x 50 cm
​Collection of the German speaking community in Belgium

1990's

"Sonate"​ 1990, oil on canvas, 90 x 70 cm

"Eventail" 1990, oil on canvas, 120 x 80 cm

"Relations"​ 1990, oil on canvas, 120 x 80 cm

"Polygones" ​1990, oil on canvas, 72 x 58 cm

"Géométrie" 1990, oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm

"Hommage à Delahaut"​ 1990, oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm

"Triangles" 1990, oil on canvas, 120 x 120 cm

"Austérité"​ 1990, 100 x 100 cm

"Plénitude" 1990, oil on canvas, 100 x 100 cm

Roger Greisch became a teacher in a small town in the Our Valley and art teacher at the School of Decorative Arts in his hometown. However, Greisch considered himself in the first place as a painter. In 1943 he already exhibited at Arlon and Liège.  In 1948, during a group exhibition at the Giroux Gallery in Brussels, he met Trudy Bos, grande dame of the art world, who introduced him to other artists such as Micheline Boyadjian, Jos Albert, Marguerite Antoine etc. In 1956 his works were shown in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Aachen. His first exhibitions in Brussels were at the Galerie Racines in 1966 and 1968. It was in the 1970’s, however, that Greisch became well known, when he was invited by Serge Goyens de Heusch to exhibit regularly at Galerie Armorial. This Gallery located at Grand Sablon in Brussels was the meeting place of the best belgian artists of that time such as Gaston Bertrand, Louis Van Lint, Mig Quinet, Berthe Dubail, Lismonde, Jean Milo, Roger Dudant, Jean Rets etc..
Greisch’s abstract paintings of the 80s and 90s are in no way impulsive, quite the contrary. They had been carefully planified for several years and were the final result of  a large number of preparatory studies and drawings. According to Serge Goyens de Heusch "Greisch is unrivaled in organizing the pictorial space in a subtle and innovative way and in using  rythmic and vivid color patches carefully selected for their daring chromatic harmony”. The use of color modulations, individualized by straight or rounded segments, was invented by Cézanne and used by Braque and Picasso in their analytical cubist paintings.
The abstract paintings of Roger Greisch are obviously very poetic. Indeed, they are by no means cold geometrical abstractions. The “good vibrations” emanating from the web of geometric lines leave spectators dreaming. The contours do not form any brutal ruptures between two planes of rectangles or circles. Without really blending the colors, the artist manages to soften the contrast between two surfaces, creating hereby a harmonious and sober composition. There is electricity in the air ! His “abstract landscapes” are far from being dumb ! At times the storm is breaking out and we imagine lightning crossing the canvas. Roger Greisch is definitely a great artist from the depths of the Belgian Ardennes whose talent should be recognized far beyond the belgian art scene.
​GROUP 2 GALLERY has already held three solo exhibitions of the artist, in 2008, 2011 and 2014, and his works are regularly present in group and thematic exhibitions.
2008  The poetic abstraction of Roger Greisch 
2011    The poetry of angles and straight lines
2014    Zen abstractions

 

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