Archives of Idel Ianchelevici

Collection

Scope and content:: This small fonds contains correspondence of Ianchelevici with authors and other personalities such as Louis-Paul Boon, August Vermeylen, Gerard Walschap, Camille Huysmans and others. We also note some photos of both Ianchelevici and his oeuvre. Lastly we mention the 26 designs of illustrations the artist made for the book “Het werk van Publius Vergilius Maro”, published in 1978.

Administrative/biographical history:: Idel Ianchelevici (1909-1994) came to Belgium in 1928 to study fine arts. He became a skilled etcher, painter, draftsman and sculptor. After fulfilling his military service in Romania he returned to Belgium, where he lived in Liège and Brussels. During the Occupation, Ianchelevici lived in hiding for a time. He was naturalised in 1945. In the early 1950s he settled in the Parisian suburb Maisons-Lafitte. Ianchelevici was known for his monumental sculptures, i.a. his Monument au génie humain for the Brussels World’s Fair of 1958 and Le Résistant (1954) in Fort Breendonk. He also made works in bas- and haut-relief, as well as paintings, sculptures and busts of famous Belgians. He was celebrated by the French state as Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. Museums dedicated to the work of Ianchelevici exist in La Louvière and Goudriaan (in the Netherlands). A number of his works are also kept in the Jewish Museum of Belgium. (Inédit Ianchelevici vu par Stephen Sack, Catalogue d’exposition, La Louvière,Musée Ianchelevici, 2007; Z. Seewald, “Ianchelevici, Idel”, in J.-P. Schreiber, Dictionnaire biographique des Juifs de Belgique. Figures du judaïsme belge, XIXe-XXe siècles, Brussel, De Boeck, 2002, p. 175.)

Access points: persons/families:: Boon, Louis-Paul; Huysmans, Camille; Ianchelevici, Idel; Vermeylen, August; Walschap, Gerard

Subject terms:: Art; Art--Artists; Correspondence; Drawings; Literature; Literature--Writers, poets, and playwrights; Photographs

Finding aids:: The fonds is described in the Agrippa database of the Letterenhuis.