Machine à émouvoir - machiene om te ontroeren/Jeugdpalet (Machine to move you)
Victor Servranckx (°1897, Diegem - 1965, Vilvoorde) was one of the first abstract artists in Belgium. He was good friends with the founder of Italian Futurism, F.T. Marinetti, with whom he upheld a frequent correspondence. Servanckx shared Marinetti’s fascination with machines and all things mechanical. In his abstract-geometric work he glorified technological development and industrial society. In several works the titles leave no room for confusion about his sincere admiration: ‘Opus 43, Love for the machine’, or ‘Opus 47, Glorification of machinery’. In this exhibition we are showing an atypical, modest work by Servranckx. Not without humor, he framed the painter’s palette from his youth and titled it ‘Machine to move you’. The title opens up a parallel between how a machine functions by way of action and reaction, and how painting, too, is an action capable of producing a reaction or response, albeit an emotional rather than a physical one.
