Reinhoud

He received his first training with a Brussels goldsmith. From 1946 to 1950 he received his artistic training in metal and sculpture at the leading École nationale supérieure des arts visuels (ENSAV), formerly the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture et des Arts Decoratifs (ENSAAD – la Cambre) in the former Abbey Ter Kameren on the south side of Brussels, where he received training from Oscar Jespers between 1946 and 1947. He also attends evening classes in industrial drawing and from 1947 he also takes classes in printed matter at the “School of Arts and Crafts” in Brussels.

It was introduced by Strebelle in 1949 in the Marais workshop in Brussels. In 1950 he met Pierre Alechinsky and was introduced by him to the other Cobra members,. He participated with them in various CoBrA exhibitions, such as the “Second International Exhibition of Experimental Art (COBRA) in the Palais de Beaux-Arts in Liège in 1951. He first establishes himself as a blacksmith and makes custom forging and decorative ironwork to order. In 1956 he broke through as an artist with an individual exhibition at the Galerie Taptoe in Brussels, where he received the “Prix de la Critique”. He received the “Young Belgian Sculpture” Prize in 1957. It was not until 1958, when the CoBrA had long since fallen apart, that he found his own artistic direction. He works with Pierre Alechinsky in his summer workshop in Sauvagemont (Brabant Wallon) in the period 1958-1959 and participates with him in various exhibitions. In this period he also gets to know the Danish Børge Birch. This is the holder of the important Galerie Birch in Copenhagen. In 1959 he received a scholarship from the Belgian State and from then on went to work in the Paris area and later in a few other places in France, such as Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. In 1960 he worked with his friend Pierre Alechinsky in Bosse (Oise). Encouraged by him, he started drawing in 1962 and gave his own exhibition in the Lefebre Gallery in New York that same year, with the introductory text written by another CoBrA member Christian Dotremont.

Originally he started copper-welding insects that had been enlarged into samples (such as “Mante religieuse”, 1956) and his creations acquired vegetable and human allure, from 1960, to culminate in often grotesque hybrid creatures (such as “Grégoire”, 1960), whereby he immerses himself in the originality of the fantastic realism. He mainly used yellow and red copper, lead and peauter (copper + tin), because with these materials he could more easily shape his imaginative creations.

During a visit to Copenhagen, Reinhoud made some small sculptures kneaded in bread for Børge Birch. He was fascinated by this and suggested covering these sculptures with silver or copper in an electrolysis bath. These fairytale-like characters became a huge success for Reinhoud and this was the start of a whole series of these. These metamorphic figures sometimes resemble an insect, then again a bird and perform human activities in groups. Reinhoud exhibited several times in the Galerie Birch (1961, 1965, 1969, 1973, 1977, 1985 and 1986).

He continued experimenting in 1962 on his style with metal objects made with crumpled metallic sheets, such as “Le Bibendum”. In 1963 he produced his first works in new silver. The following year travels to the “Instituto Torcuato di Tella” in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He married the photographer Suzy Embo in 1964 and settled in Paris. In the following year he experiments with large characters in newspaper and chicken wire. In 1968 he created a number of sculptures without a head, which he appropriately called “Migraines”. In 1969 he made a number of wooden sculptures.

He remarries in 1970 with Nicole Rémon.

He also spent a short time (1974-1975) in the United States, first as a visiting professor at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. In this period he works mainly in copper and brass. Then travels through the Colorado desert, the Nevada desert and finally in Mexico.

On his return, he resides alternately in Paris and La Bosse in the period 1976-1978. He goes to Provence every summer. From 1980 he regularly goes to Normandy and starts using boulders in his works. In 1982 he developed a engraving process with remains of his sculptures and surfaces of metal sheets.

In 1983 he made a bas-relief “Stop the Run” for the Ossegem metro station in Brussels. In 1987 he works in Morville (Normandy). In 1992 he again focused on drawing.

Reinhoud D’Haese died on July 1, 2007 at age 79.