In 1960 Jozef Peeters dies. In the early 1920s, this Antwerp painter had been a pioneer of abstract art. When the Antwerp neo-avant-garde group G58 is founded, the young generation recognise Peeters’ pioneering role by appointing him honorary chairman.

With the death of Peeters, Jef Verheyen loses both a friend and role model. ‘You were a sort of Tijl Uilenspiegel. I needed you, so that I could learn something from your wisdom and age, your magazines, the exhibitions with Klee, Kandinsky and Moholy-Nagy, whose work you knew so well.’

In 1954, Jozef Peeters wrote to Michel Seuphor that — after thirty years of family preoccupations — he had resumed painting. The latter was an understatement. During the final six years of his life, Peeters created an entire second body of work. Flor Bex was right to describe this in his ICC catalogue as the magnificent comeback of one of the most important Flemish artists of the twentieth century. 

Contrary to what one might assume, the older Jozef Peeters was not merely a passive honorary member of Groep 58. On the contrary, he was actively involved in the discussions, as plans for an Antwerp neo-avant-garde took shape. Even before Groep 58 was permitted to exhibit at the Hessenhuis, Peeters had already shown two works in a group exhibition at Middelheim. In 1959 and 1960, he played a promi nent role in an exhibition dedicated to the pioneers of abstract art and, to top it off, was granted a retro spective at the Hessenhuis.

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