Jef Van Thuerenhout 'the Birds, Two Queens' Nude Expressionist Bronze Sculpture 54cm, 1980

"Two Queens - The Birds" ca 1980.
Surrealist "magico-realistic expressionist" bronze sculpture by Jef Van Tuerenhout, numbered 17/20.
In a perfect state.

Bibliography: Engelen - Marx, Sculpture in Belgium from 1830 to the present day, page 3917-3918.

Biography: Born in Mechelen in 1926, sculptor painter ceramist jewelry designer.
1941 to 1945, Jef Van Tuerenhout studied painting and sculpture at the Brussels Academy.
In 1949, he exhibited with Pol Mara, Luc Peire, Bertrand, J. Cox and Van Hoey Donck at the "Contemporary Painting in Belgium" exhibition.
First individual exhibition in 1950.
In 1954, he moved to Ostend.
The woman is the subject par excellence that will inspire all his work "No abstraction but necessarily figuration". Liberated, naked women, with generous breasts, full lips, sensuality and voluptuousness, expressive colors typical of the magico-realist movement, expressionist style. In 1965, Félix Labisse invited him to participate in the 21st Salon de Mai in Paris, where he discovered Salvador Dali and Max Ernst. In 1967, he exhibited in Monaco and at the Universal Exhibition in Montreal.
In 1968 he began to make large sculptures and in 1969 he published his first lithograph.
In 1970, he exhibited at the Casino in Knokke and met Maurice Chevalier.
In 1971, he exhibited for the first time gold and silver jewelry, set with diamonds, at the Galerie L'Ecuyer in Brussels.
In 1975, retrospective exhibition at the cultural center A. Spinoy in Mechelen.
At the invitation of the Flemish Ministry of Culture, he undertakes a study trip to Hungary.
In 1980, Knight of the Order of Leopold II, he painted a portrait of Queen Fabiola.
International exhibitions and important meetings, exchanges: Ernst Fuchs, Léo Ferré, Karel Appel, Christo. Van Tuerenhout loves the company of animals and adopts a lion cub and a young leopard. He exhibited at Lineart in Ghent in 2000, Danny Van Bel Arts in Brussels in 2001.
Died in Wenduine in 2006.