BIOGRAPHY

1922
Birth of Pol Bury at Haine-Saint-Paul, near La Louvière, Belgium.
1939-1940 Meets the poet Achille Chavée and joins the Surrealist group, Rupture, and later the Groupe Surréaliste en Hainaut. His paintings are mainly influenced by Magritte.
1946
Exhibits for the first time, at Galerie des Editions La Boétie, Brussels, in the company of Arp, Dominguez, Ernst, and Chirico.
1949
Becomes a member of the CoBrA group.
Abstract painting. At first rather informal, his painting is increasingly characterized by tight forms.
1950
Discovers the mobiles of Alexander Calder. Interest in abstract painting is replaced by an interest in three-dimensional work.
1953
Abandons painting and exhibits his Plans Mobiles for the first time in Brussels. These mobiles are not altogether works of movement, but rather works of transformation.
1955
Girouettes: painted volumes subject to random movement by the wind or by the curious hands of passersby (Toucher S.V.P.!).
1957 Multiplans: first genuinely mobile works, driven by electric motors.
Co-founds the magazine, Daily Bul, with André Balthazar; Daily Bul later becomes a publishing house.
1958 Experiments with different ways of manipulating light.
1961 Ponctuations, Vibrations and Erectiles: fine nylon threads with painted tips, whose movement is barely perceptible.
Moves to Paris.
1962 Meubles: monumental three-dimensional sculptures in wood.
1963
First Cinétisations: images manipulated by rearranging circular cut-outs. Influence of Op Art.
1965
Works in metal, largely stainless steel and polished copper. First works using electromagnetism.
1969
Fontaine Cinétique for the University of Iowa, Iowa City.
1970
First Ramolissements. Teaches sculpture and aesthetics at the University of California, Berkeley.
1971 Creates the film, 8500 tonnes de fer: a ramolissement of the Eiffel Tower.
Retrospective exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
1973 25 tonnes de colonnes, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels.
1976
First hydraulic fountain. Ceiling for the Brussels subway station, Bourse.
1980
Fountain for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
1983
Appointed professor of monumental sculpture at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris.
1987
Three large Skycatcher mirrors for Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey.
1994
Fountain for the Tohoku University of Art & Design in Yamagata, Japan.
1997
Volumes figés and Papiers collés.
2001
Ramollissements virtuels: digital alterations of paintings by the old masters.
2005
Bury dies in Paris.