BRUSSELS — Paris-based art auction house Piasa has announced a major single-artist sale titled Pol Bury, Beyond Movement, slated for Wednesday, January 24 at La Patinoire Royale, Galerie Valerie Bach in Brussels, Belgium. The catalog is now available for bidding at LiveAuctioneers.
Born in Belgium, Bury (1922-2005) began his artistic career as a Surrealist painter, but was profoundly influenced by an Alexander Calder exhibition in 1952. He immediately shifted his focus to kinetic sculpture, with his first exhibition in 1955 in Paris titled Le Movement. He became associated with the ZERO group of artists started in Germany by Heinz Mack and Otto Piene, described by the latter as “a zone of silence and of pure possibilities for a new beginning.”
Geometry was a guiding vision in all of Bury’s work, as is seen in the Piasa sale tellingly named “Beyond Movement.” The collection is focused on both Bury’s static and moving works and represents a clear cross-section of his oeuvre, much of it consigned by his widow, Velma Bury.
Ironically, the highest-estimated lot in the sale isn’t a work by Bury, but rather of him — Souvenirs, portrait de Pol Bury is dated circa 1967 and is by Alina Szapocznikow (1926-1973). It features Bury’s image on a object made of polyester resin, fiberglass, newspaper, a gelatin silver print and cotton gauze. It is described as “unique” and carries an estimate of €8,000-€12,000 ($8,760-$13,150).
48 boules sur un escalier en perspective (48 balls on a staircase in perspective) is a 1997 work by Bury made of tinted wood, cork and an electrical motor. It is signed, dated and titled on the back and is estimated at €6,000-€8,000 ($6,575-$8,760).
Dated August 2005, one month before his passing, is Girouettes (Weathervanes), a group of six cut PVC pieces on steel feet. Twice exhibited in Belgium, first in 2010 and later in 2017 at La Patinoire Royale, the lot is estimated at €6,000-€8,000 ($6,575-$8,760).
A study model for Capteurs de Ciel (La Louviere), a public art installation by Bury in Brussels, is dated 2004 and is made of wood, stainless steel and an electric motor. As with the earlier items, the lot is estimated at €6,000-€8,000 ($6,575-$8,760).
Cercle sur un triangle (Circle on a triangle) is a 1978 kinetic work by Bury and also comes from his wife’s collection. Made of copper and steel, it is estimated at €4,000-€6,000 ($4,380-$6,575).
