*Darville Alphonse
(14/10/1910, Mont-sur-Marchienne - Charleroi (BE), 21/11/1990)
Alphonse Darville was born in Mont-sur-Marchienne on 14 January 1910. His father, Gaston Darville (1885-1950), was a tracing mechanic and later a timber merchant. His mother, Odile Bacq (1887-1954), was an ironer.From a very early age, he created works in cork, chalk blocks and clay. His teacher, Roger Desaise, advised his father to make his son a sculptor. He agreed, thinking that Alphonse would become an ornamentalist.
In 1935, he was awarded the first Grand Prix de Rome1. That same year, he created the group La Gloire et la Paixa,b installed in Charleroi Town Hall3.
On 11 September 1937, Alphonse Darville married Georgette Bousman (1915-2017)c. The couple had two children, Pierred, born in 1939, and Claire, born eight years later1. They lived in a modernist villa built in Marchienne-au-Pont by Marcel Leborgne at the request of Olivier Bousman, Georgette's father4.
Alphonse Darville was mobilised on 8 November 1939 on the eve of the Second World War and was held captive in Germany after the 18-day campaign. He was released on 3 December 1942 thanks to falsified Red Cross papers. In 1943, he took part in a clandestine group led by Aimée Bologne-Lemaire in her office at the Lycée Vauban in Charleroi, the cultural section of the Charleroi Walloon Economic Council.
Alphonse was introduced to sculpture teacher Isidore De Rudder at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, where he studied from 1924 to 1929. Other teachers included Paul Du Bois, Jacques Marin, Égide Rombaux and Victor Rousseau. He also learned woodcarving from a craftsman in Mont-sur-Marchienne and attended the Université du Travail in Charleroi, where he took art drawing classes with Léon Van den Houten.
On completing his studies, he was awarded the Roger-Langbehn prize. In 1931, he received the Godecharle prize, shared with Vandenhaute and Fernand Débonnaires. Two years later, he was one of the founders of the Art vivant au pays de Charleroi group, along with Gilberte Dumont, Gustave Camus and Marcel Delmotte. In this group of young artists, Alphonse Darville was attached to the Mediterranean creative tradition. His works were imbued with the classical style, sometimes tinged with expressionism and surrealism.
In 1946, he founded the Charleroi Academy of Fine Arts, of which he was director until 1972. He taught sculpture there. He is a member of juries and various commissions of the Beaux-arts, Artistes des Cahiers du Nord, Artistes du Hainaut, Société des Sciences, des Arts et des Lettres du Hainaut (1956), and a guest of the Nervia group. He sits on the Conseil de perfectionnement de l'enseignement de l'architecture et des arts plastiques6.
Alphonse Darville collaborated with Matila Ghyka on several studies on the golden ratio in the monthly magazine "L'amour de l'Art", around 1950. He is the author of several other writings and lectures on art, the artist and art education6.
Alongside his teaching career, he also pursued an artistic career. He created monumental works such as the monument to the Pont des Arches in Liège, the Albertine in Brussels, the Mons Provincial Government and the Marcinelle Town Hall. In Charleroi, he worked on the Palais des expositions, the Palais des beaux-arts, the Université du Travail, the Saint-Christophe church, the Hôpital Civil,e and the Banque Nationalef. He also created monuments to Jules Destrée, Paul Pastur and Pierre Paulus6. Also in Charleroi, four works in the "Art Deco" style sculpted in 1935, of which there is virtually no equivalent in Charleroi, represented a footballer, a basketball player, a javelin thrower and a fourth sportsman. During renovation work on the Sporting de Charleroi stadium in the 1980s, they were taken down by a contractor7.
He produced a large number of busts and almost a hundred medals. His medals are presented at exhibitions organised by the Fédération internationale de la médaille d'art (FIDEM) and by the Cabinet des médailles of the Royal Library of Belgium6.
In 1935, he was awarded the first Grand Prix de Rome1. That same year, he created the group La Gloire et la Paixa,b installed in Charleroi Town Hall3.
On 11 September 1937, Alphonse Darville married Georgette Bousman (1915-2017)c. The couple had two children, Pierred, born in 1939, and Claire, born eight years later1. They lived in a modernist villa built in Marchienne-au-Pont by Marcel Leborgne at the request of Olivier Bousman, Georgette's father4.
Alphonse Darville was mobilised on 8 November 1939 on the eve of the Second World War and was held captive in Germany after the 18-day campaign. He was released on 3 December 1942 thanks to falsified Red Cross papers. In 1943, he took part in a clandestine group led by Aimée Bologne-Lemaire in her office at the Lycée Vauban in Charleroi, the cultural section of the Charleroi Walloon Economic Council.
Alphonse was introduced to sculpture teacher Isidore De Rudder at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, where he studied from 1924 to 1929. Other teachers included Paul Du Bois, Jacques Marin, Égide Rombaux and Victor Rousseau. He also learned woodcarving from a craftsman in Mont-sur-Marchienne and attended the Université du Travail in Charleroi, where he took art drawing classes with Léon Van den Houten.
On completing his studies, he was awarded the Roger-Langbehn prize. In 1931, he received the Godecharle prize, shared with Vandenhaute and Fernand Débonnaires. Two years later, he was one of the founders of the Art vivant au pays de Charleroi group, along with Gilberte Dumont, Gustave Camus and Marcel Delmotte. In this group of young artists, Alphonse Darville was attached to the Mediterranean creative tradition. His works were imbued with the classical style, sometimes tinged with expressionism and surrealism.
In 1946, he founded the Charleroi Academy of Fine Arts, of which he was director until 1972. He taught sculpture there. He is a member of juries and various commissions of the Beaux-arts, Artistes des Cahiers du Nord, Artistes du Hainaut, Société des Sciences, des Arts et des Lettres du Hainaut (1956), and a guest of the Nervia group. He sits on the Conseil de perfectionnement de l'enseignement de l'architecture et des arts plastiques6.
Alphonse Darville collaborated with Matila Ghyka on several studies on the golden ratio in the monthly magazine "L'amour de l'Art", around 1950. He is the author of several other writings and lectures on art, the artist and art education6.
Alongside his teaching career, he also pursued an artistic career. He created monumental works such as the monument to the Pont des Arches in Liège, the Albertine in Brussels, the Mons Provincial Government and the Marcinelle Town Hall. In Charleroi, he worked on the Palais des expositions, the Palais des beaux-arts, the Université du Travail, the Saint-Christophe church, the Hôpital Civil,e and the Banque Nationalef. He also created monuments to Jules Destrée, Paul Pastur and Pierre Paulus6. Also in Charleroi, four works in the "Art Deco" style sculpted in 1935, of which there is virtually no equivalent in Charleroi, represented a footballer, a basketball player, a javelin thrower and a fourth sportsman. During renovation work on the Sporting de Charleroi stadium in the 1980s, they were taken down by a contractor7.
He produced a large number of busts and almost a hundred medals. His medals are presented at exhibitions organised by the Fédération internationale de la médaille d'art (FIDEM) and by the Cabinet des médailles of the Royal Library of Belgium6.