Draft:Solange Delgleize - Belgian artist

Solange Delgleize (February 24, 1925 – 15 March 2008) was a Belgian artist from the city of Verviers. She is known for her paintings of flowers, landscapes, still-lifes African subjects. She worked with oils and watercolors and occasionally ceramics. She studied art in the United Kingdom at the Hornsey School of Arts.

Early life and childhood Delgleize was born at home in Andrimont, a suburb of Verviers in eastern Belgium. Her parents were Arsène Delgleize and Marie-Louise Prévot. Delgleize and her family fled to the United Kingdom the day of the German invasion, 10 May 1940, and spent the entirety of the war near London. While in the UK, Delgleize attended the Hornsey School of Arts where she was able to develop and refine her techniques. She graduated from the Hornsey School on August 1, 1945. Her next-door neighbor in Andrimont and future husband was Samuel Lemauvais (February 22, 1922 – November 1, 2013). When he was captured by the Germany Army in late May of 1940, Delgleize became his “wartime godmother”.

Return to Belgium, Marriage and sojourn in Africa Delgleize returned to Belgium in late 1945, and soon found a position teaching drawing at the Ursulines school in Séroule (Verviers). Samuel Lemauvais who had been held as a prisoner of war in Austria returned to Belgium around the same time. The two married in 1949 and lived first in Verviers then in Bruxelles. In 1955, the couple, accompanied by their three children, emigrated to the Belgian Congo (now Zaire) where Lemauvais was employed by the Belgian distributor for General Motors. Their fourth child was born during their stay in the Congo. During this time, Delgleize sketched and recorded a wealth of ideas which she would later use in her works depicting both the indigenous population as well as scenes of local life. During this time, she had several expositions in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa).

Return from Africa and life in Belgium The Lemauvais family left the Belgian Congo in 1960 at the time of independence and returned to their hometown of Verviers. Despite needing to care for her young family, she managed to resume her painting. When the family moved into their home in the Verviers suburb of Heusy, she was able to have a full working studio. Her works were shown in numerous cities across Belgium including Verviers, Spa, Charleroi and Ostend.

Styles and evolution Delgleize is best known for her still-lifes, especially floral arrangements, landscapes, and portraits. Her media was oil, watercolor and pastel. She also worked in ceramics but her main corpus of work was in paint.

Exhibitions Delgleize is best known in Wallonia, the French speaking part of Belgium as that is where most of her exhibitions were located and where most of her works were sold. Nevertheless, it’s known that she has pieces displayed in Canada, the United States and in France.

Death Solange Delgleize died at home from a ruptured aorta on March15, 2008. She was survived by her husband, Samuel Lemauvais, her four children and nine grandchildren.

References

<ref>Newspaper "Le Jour" August 1975, 10 September 1978, 23 October 1980, 28 September 1982,15 December 1983, 20 July 1990, 29 May 1991; Cercle des beaux-arts verviers 8 March 1981 ; newspaper "Le Courrier" 23 December 1982, 19 February 1985; newspaper "La Wallonie" 14 October 1986 ; newspaper "La Vie Spadoise" 19 July 1990 ; newspaper "La Meuse" 25 July 1990 ; newspaper "La Quinzaine" 12 July 1990 ; Société Royale de Chant l'Emulation 10 July 1998 ; Les Amis du peintre Dieudonné Jacob May 2001