{{Short description|Belgian painter}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox artist | name = Raoul De Keyser | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1930|8|29}} | birth_place = Deinze, Belgium | death_date = {{death date and age|2012|10|6|1930|8|29}} | death_place = Deinze, Belgium | field = Painting | movement = New Vision, Abstract art | training = Academy of Fine Arts (Deinze) | notable_works = | spouse = Dina Baudoncq (m. 1952; d. 1984) }}
'''Raoul De Keyser''' (29 August 1930 – 6 October 2012) was a Belgian painter who lived and worked in Deinze, Belgium.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.knack.be/belga-algemeen/raoul-de-keyser-overleden-de-sfinx-van-deinze-zwijgt-voorgoed/article-4000189326684.htm |title=Raoul De Keyser overleden : De sfinx van Deinze zwijgt voorgoed – Belga Algemeen |publisher=Knack.be |accessdate=2012-10-07}}</ref> He was associated with the Flemish New Vision movement and gained international recognition after Documenta IX in 1992. His works are held in major museums such as the MoMA in New York and the Museum Ludwig in Cologne.
== Early life and education == De Keyser was born in Deinze on 29 August 1930, and lived there all his life. His father was a carpenter. He began to paint on his own as a teenager but soon started writing for daily newspapers,<ref name=obit-nyt>Roberta Smith (16 October 2012), [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/17/arts/design/raoul-de-keyser-belgian-abstract-painter-dies-at-82.html Raoul De Keyser, Belgian Abstract Painter, Dies at 82] ''New York Times''.</ref> commentating eclectically on sport and art.<ref name=obit-g>Christopher Masters (14 October 2012), [https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/oct/14/raoul-de-keyser Raoul de Keyser obituary] ''The Guardian''.</ref> He attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Deinze under the painter Roger Raveel from 1963 to 1964.<ref name="davidzwirner.com">[http://www.davidzwirner.com/exhibition/raoul-de-keyser-freedom/ Raoul De Keyser: FREEDOM, 20 September – 29 October 2011] David Zwirner, New York.</ref> While at school, De Keyser joined ''New Vision'', a Flemish movement led by Raveel with the avowed aim of "revaluing everyday reality".<ref name=obit-g/> His wife, Dina Baudoncq, whom he married in 1952, died in 1984.<ref name=obit-nyt/>
==Work== De Keyser created abstract paintings and works on paper. He switched from acrylic to oil paint in the mid-1970s. His mature paintings often consist of a few sparse casual patches of paint laid over a monochrome field.<ref name=obit-nyt/> The paintings are layered or washed with muted tones, and feature primal organic shapes, grids, lines and strokes.<ref>[http://whitecube.com/exhibitions/raoul_de_keyser_across_duke_street_2002/ Raoul De Keyser: Across, 18 April – 25 May 2002] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130910084509/http://whitecube.com/exhibitions/raoul_de_keyser_across_duke_street_2002/ |date=10 September 2013 }} White Cube, London.</ref> Many of the images are based on small cardboard cutouts, continually rearranged.<ref>Roberta Smith (17 November 2006), [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02E0D9143EF934A25752C1A9609C8B63 Art in Review; Raoul De Keyser] ''New York Times''.</ref>
==Exhibitions== De Keyser has been the subject of solo exhibitions in Bern and Frankfurt (1991), and regular exhibitions in Antwerp, Berlin, Munich, New York City, Vienna and elsewhere. For much of his career he exhibited primarily in Belgium and the Netherlands, achieving international recognition only after his work was included in documenta in 1992.<ref name=obit-nyt/>
In 2011, he had a solo exhibition at the De Loketten, Flemish Parliament, in Brussels, Belgium, and in 2009, a retrospective at the Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany. In 2004, a retrospective of Raoul De Keyser's paintings was held at the Whitechapel Gallery in London,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.whitechapel.org/content.php?page_id=675 |title=whitechapel.org |access-date=20 June 2008 |archive-date=2 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061002045447/http://www.whitechapel.org/content.php?page_id=675 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Barry Schwabsky, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_10_42/ai_n6094701 ''Raoul De Keyser: Whitechapel Art Gallery, London''], ''ArtForum'', Summer 2004.</ref> and toured to Museé de Rochechouart, Rochechouart, France; De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art, Tilburg, The Netherlands; Fundacao Serralves, Porto, Portugal; and the Kunstverein St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland in summer 2005. At the end of 2006, there was a large overview of his work at the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels, Belgium. Other solo exhibitions include the Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France (2008); Museum van Deinze en de Leiestreek, Deinze, Belgium (2007); Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium (2002); Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent; The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago (both 2001); and The Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin (2000).{{cn|date=October 2024}}
He has been included in major international group exhibitions, such as Documenta IX (1992),<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060217180525/http://renaissancesociety.org/site/Exhibitions/Intro.27.0.0.0.0.html renaissancesociety.org]</ref> ''Der Zerbrochene Spiegel. Positionen zur Malerei'' (Vienna and Hamburg, 1993) and ''Unbound. Possibilities in Painting'' (Hayward Gallery, London, 1994.
== Collections == {{Refimprove section|date=October 2024}} De Keyser's work is held in public collections worldwide, including the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; the Museum of Modern Art, New York;<ref>[http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A28678&page_number=1&template_id=6&sort_order=1 moma.org]</ref> Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent.
== Art market == De Keyser estate is represented by Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin and David Zwirner, New York, (since 1999).<ref name="davidzwirner.com"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.davidzwirner.com/artists/raoul-de-keyser Raoul De Keyser at David Zwirner] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060221081922/http://kunstmuseum.bonn.de/ausstellungen/aktuellindex_e.htm Raoul De Keyser: Replay solo exhibition] Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany, August 2009 *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090813121548/http://www.davidzwirner.com/artists/15/press.htm Selected Press on Raoul De Keyser]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:De Keyser, Raoul}} Category:1930 births Category:2012 deaths Category:People from Deinze Category:Belgian contemporary painters