Pierre Alechinsky studied book illustration, typography and printmaking at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture et des Arts Decoratifs in Brussel from 1944 to 1948. In 1947 he became a member of the Jeune Peinture Belge group and mounted his first solo exhibition in Brussels. In 1949 he met Christian Dotremont and joined the CoBrA movement.
Together with the sculptors Olivier Strebelle and Reinhoud, Alechinsky was a driving force behind Les ateliers du Marais, the meeting place for many CoBrA artists. Alongside Dotremont, Alechinsky was the lynchpin of CoBrA’s Belgian branch, organising the group’s final joint exhibition in Liège. Alechinsky threw himself with such enthusiasm into the task of organising the movement and editing its newsletter that he hardly had time for his own work, and for this reason he did not really begin to develop as an artist until after the CoBrA period. After the group fell apart in the early Fifties, he settled in Paris.
In 1955 Alechinksy travelled to Japan to study Japanese calligraphy. During the Sixties his work was particularly influenced by Eastern calligraphy. In 1965, during an extended stay in the United States, Alechinsky began to use acrylic paints, a medium that enabled him to forge his “graffiti” of lines, symbols, circles, texts and fabulous creatures into a united whole.
From the Sixties onwards Alechinsky increasingly collaborated with other artists. Publications appeared with poetic texts by various authors, which he illustrated with mythical animals. In the 21st century Pierre Alechinsky is as active as ever.