ARCHIVE

In 2024, a first part of the archive of the artist Philippe Van Snick (Ghent, 16/12/1946 – Brussels, 04/07/2019) was donated to the Ghent University Library by the Philippe Van Snick Estate.

The complete ‘Philippe Van Snick archive’ consists of authentic visual material (documentary photos, slides, contact sheets, ektas) and documentary material (correspondence, press, design sketches, study materials, exhibition documentation), on both paper and digital carriers. It documents his entire artistic career and dates from 1968-2019.

The donated part of the archive comprises mainly documentary material and covers an initial period of his career (1968-90) in which the artist developed his artistic practice at home and abroad. Specifically, 110 folders containing correspondence, notes, (design) sketches, invoices, clippings and texts and (mainly) published visual material were transferred.

The corresponding authentic and original visual material by Philippe Van Snick (contact prints, studio photos, slides and contact prints) is the subject of further research and valuation before it can be transferred to the University Library. The analogue and digital archives relating to more recent projects from the period after 1990 and the records of the activities Philippe Van Snick had as a teacher at Sint-Lucas (Brussels) have also not been transferred.

The archive is an important source for the historical contextualisation and interpretation of the oeuvre of this prominent Belgian artist as well as of the (inter)national network of befriended artists, critics, galleries and museums he built during this period.