Abstract painting, jan burssens, mixed technique on cardboard, 20th century

Jan burssens, abstract painting, mid-20th century. Mixed media: gouache, watercolor, ink including text (to be deciphered), see image. Signature lower right, writing on the back to be deciphered (see photo). Work on card stock, unframed. Biography: born in mechelen on june 27, 1925, jan burssens grew up in an intellectual environment: his father, amaat burssens, was a professor of african languages at ghent university, and his uncle, gaston burssens, was a renowned poet. Although he studied at the academy of fine arts in ghent, he is considered essentially self-taught. He left the academy in 1946 to pursue his own artistic path. In the 1950s, he was a member of the young belgian painting movement (1951–1954) and co-founded the abstract art group in 1952. He also participated in documenta 2 in kassel in 1959, a major event in contemporary art. Burssens began with expressionist painting influenced by frits van den berghe. By 1947, he had moved toward lyrical abstraction, experimenting with materials such as sand and lacquer, and using the dripping technique even before he had discovered the works of jackson pollock. His work was also influenced by the existentialism of jean-paul sartre and the aesthetics of francis bacon. Over time, he returned to expressive figuration, often centered on self-portraits and distorted human figures, using rich textures and intense colors.