Rik Slabbinck was born in Bruges in 1914. He took evening classes at the Bruges Academy of Fine Arts from 1933 to 1935 and at Sint-Lucas School of Arts in Ghent. Between 1936 and 1938, he worked as an assistant in Constant Permeke’s workshop, where he developed a fondness for Belgian expressionism. In 1945, he founded the movement ‘la Jeune Peinture belge’, exhibiting with the group two years later. In Brussels, he often frequented members of the ‘La Route Libre’ group, and took part in various ‘apport’ exhibitions. Between 1963 and 1979, he taught a class at the Higher Institute of the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp (NHISKA).
Despite being faithful to the fundamentals of Belgian expressionism, Slabbinck’s work underwent a subtle evolution throughout his career. Initially, the painter was decidedly against the monochromatic prevalence and the exaggerated distortions that were introduced in the first half of the 20th century. In contrast, he favoured warm hues and played with shadows in a delicate play on chiaroscuro.
After the Second World War, he decided to rejuvenate his practice by dedicating more attention to structure. He largely abandoned perspective in favour of flat monochrome shades, an effect achieved through the adoption of the palette knife as his primary tool. As his corpus evolved, colours – which were previously figurative and thus determined by real-life subjects – were chosen to respond to the structural needs the composition. This shift is often described as a departure from expressionism towards fauvism.
He was a runner-up for the Prize of Rome (in Belgium) in both 1940 and 1943. He was awarded the Oleffe Prize in 1984.
Solo exhibitions include: Ghent (1936), Antwerp (1936); Retrospective, Groeningemuseum, Bruges, (1964); Retrospective, Antwerp (1979); Rik Slabbinck, peintre soleil de Flandres, Candelaerhuys, Brussels, (2002); Rik Slabbinck, Galerie Albert I, Brussels, (2011).
Group exhibitions include: Salon Annuel Apport, Brussels (1940-1943); La Jeune Peinture Belge, Galerie Plaats, The Hague (1946); La Jeune Peinture Belge, Galerie Van Lier, Amsterdam (1947); the Venice Biennale (1948, 1958); the Sao Paolo Biennale (1951); the Menton Biennale (1953); Belgische schilderkunst van 1890-heden, Centraal Museum Utrecht (1966); Slabbinck – André Lopez, Casino Kursaal Oostende (1994).
He represented Belgium at various international biennales: the Venice Biennale (1948 and 1958); the Sao Paulo Biennale (1951), the Menton Biennale (1953).
Slabbinck passed away in 1991.
