The main exhi­bi­ti­on of 100 years José Vermeersch is orga­ni­zed in the uni­que stu­dio of José Vermeersch in Lendelede. A selec­ti­on of sculp­tu­res from main­ly pri­va­te col­lec­ti­ons will be made. You will meet the essen­ce of José Vermeersch’s oeuvre.

The exhi­bi­ti­on in the Atelier Vermeersch, whe­re the for­mer work­pla­ce will also be visi­ted, is com­ple­men­ted by a new docu­men­ta­ry by film­ma­kers Jan Dhondt and Patrick Mahieu. 

Lendelede is relea­sing a revi­sed and expand­ed ver­si­on of the wal­king rou­te that gui­des visi­tors along impor­tant pla­ces in the life of José Vermeersch. Sound frag­ments from the film will be avai­la­ble via QR codes at impor­tant loca­ti­ons in Lendelede.

De Patria (Kortrijk) is exhi­bi­ting a selec­ti­on of pain­tings by José Vermeersch, spe­ci­fi­cally from the peri­od 1968 — 1969. In a first pha­se of his artis­tic career, Vermeersch was in fact a pain­ter and espe­ci­al­ly during the peri­od 1968 — 1969 he was very productive. 

Between approxi­ma­te­ly 1966 and 1969, José Vermeersch got a grip on his artis­tic cour­se. While pain­ting, he came clo­ser to the ima­ges that would make him famous in the fol­lo­wing deca­des. A new aspect emer­ged: nak­ed man stan­ding alo­ne. Man wit­hout a nar­ra­ti­ve, wit­hout a rea­son for a demon­stra­ble or pri­va­te exis­ten­ce. His gen­de­red figu­res were pain­ted freely and smoot­h­ly. They stand, lie or crawl in a limi­ted spa­ce. They are mobi­le con­tours, mere huma­noid figu­res. About this, Vermeersch mys­te­rious­ly said, ​“I react against for­ma­li­ty to get clo­ser to life. ( Matthias Depoorter)

A selec­ti­on of the­se pain­tings will be exhi­bi­ted, in com­bi­na­ti­on with poems by his son Pol Vermeersch. On the occa­si­on of this exhi­bi­ti­on, a book of poe­try will be published.

In the Castle of Rumbeke (Roeselare), the life of José Vermeersch, rich­ly docu­men­ted in pho­tos, is shown in a chro­no­lo­gi­cal over­view. It also focu­ses on the cour­se of his artis­tic career: as a stu­dent of Permeke, first as a pain­ter, then as a cera­mist, the buil­ding of his field kil­ns in Lendelede, the sto­ry of the cre­a­ti­on of a uni­que artis­tic fami­ly, now alrea­dy cove­ring three generations.

You can immer­se yourself in the life of José Vermeersch in all its facets.