DUISBURG.- The artist Georges Vantongerloo, born in Antwerp in 1886 and died in Paris in 1965, is one of the pioneers of geometrical abstraction in Europe, in particular of abstract sculpture.
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Because of his artistic contributions to the "Stijl" movement, his leading role within the Parisian avant-garde group "Abstraction-Création", and not least due to his innovative sculptural works after 1945 and his theoretical writings, Vantongerloo is considered one of the outstanding artist of the 20th century.

The exhibition covers a great diversity of works ranging from the cosmic, utopian and experimental works that he first of all made in the Netherlands in 1915/16, to the universal, energetic works of the 1960s. The figurative and quite successful early work of the pre-War period, which was produced in Brussels, appears in the exhibition in the form of a short prelude.

By exemplifying connections to the works of other artists who dealt with similar thematic or stylistic problems in their work (amongst others Theo van Doesburg, Piet Mondrian, Alexander Archipenko, Naum Gabo, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Hans Arp, Max Bill) Vantongerloos work will be placed in an international context.

The exhibition is a joint venture between the Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg and the Gemeentemuseum, Den Haag.

An accompanying catalogue with coloured images of the exhibited works and texts by Marion Bornscheuer, Christoph Brockhaus (Duisburg); Hans Janssen (Den Haag), Angela Thomas Schmid (Zumikon), Francisca Vandepitte (Brüssel) and Marek Wieczorek (Vancouver) will be published (288 pages; Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess, Zürich).