Exhibition at Mons Museum of Fine Arts explores Belgian art and the communist utopia
On Friday, the City of Mons unveiled the new exhibition, “Plural Perspectives: Belgian Art and the Communist Utopia in the 20th Century”, which runs from 11 April to 16 August at the Museum of Fine Arts. The expo explores nearly a century of artistic creation linked to the communist movement in Belgium.
The communist movement emerged in the wake of the Russian Revolution and took shape in Belgium in the early 1920s. “Although a minority in electoral terms, it exerted a lasting influence on cultural life,” stated the organisers of the Mons exhibition, emphasising the importance of “the social awareness of artists”, which is “a factor influencing their approach to being artists”.
The expo brings together works by Frans Masereel, René Magritte, Kurt Peiser, Guillaume Vanden Borre, Roger Somville, Jan Vanriet, Marthe Velle, Jo Dustin and many other artists. “All of them maintain, to varying degrees, a connection with the communist movement, whether through direct involvement, intellectual proximity or critical reflection on the communist utopia.”
The exhibition offers a chronological and thematic journey in which painting, printmaking, sculpture, posters and monumental works engage in dialogue. “It thus demonstrates that there is no single communist art, but a plurality of approaches grappling with the same utopia and its contradictions.”
A significant section is devoted to the Belgian artist Frans Masereel, whose engravings and drawings published in the progressive press bear witness to a commitment deeply rooted in the anti-fascist and social struggles of his time.
The Mons Museum of Fine Arts © BELGA PHOTO VIRGINIE LEFOUR
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