ALPHONSE DARVILLE "draped nude woman" terracotta sculpture, unique piece, 1959

Project of a terracotta sculpture by Alphonse Darville.
Unique piece by the artist, 1959.
Very good condition.

Biography:
Alphonse Darville was born in Mont-sur-Marchienne in 1910. From an early age, he created works in cork, chalk blocks and clay. Alphonse was introduced to sculpture teacher Isidore De Rudder at the Académie royale des beaux-arts in Brussels, where he studied from 1924 to 1929. Other teachers included Paul Du Bois, Jacques Marin, égide Rombaux and Victor Rousseau. He attended the Université du Travail in Charleroi and studied under Léon Van den Houten.
He went on to win the Roger-Langbehn prize and 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. His works are imbued with the classical style, sometimes tinged with expressionism and surrealism.
In 1935, he was awarded the first Grand Prix de Rome and created the group La Gloire et la Paix (Glory and Peace) for Charleroi City Hall, where he also worked on the Palais des Expositions (Exhibition Centre), the Palais des Beaux-Arts (Fine Arts Centre), the Université du Travail (Labour University), the Saint-Christophe church, the Hôpital Civil (Civil Hospital) and the Banque Nationale (National Bank). He also created monuments to Jules Destrée, Paul Pastur and Pierre Paulus, as well as four works in the Art Deco style sculpted in 1935.
In 1946, he founded the Charleroi Academy of Fine Arts, of which he was director until 1972. He taught sculpture there and was 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 sculpted monuments such as the Pont des Arches in Liège, the Albertine in Brussels, the Mons Provincial Government and the Marcinelle Town Hall.