Albéric Collin (6 April 1886 – 27 February 1962) was a Belgian animalier sculptor and pastel artist.
Biography Collin was born in Antwerp and was educated there, training in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where among his teachers was Josuë Dupon. He was a member of the Antwerp Group. He was a close friend of the Italian animalier Rembrandt Bugatti, who was based in Antwerp for several years before World War I. Like Bugatti, Collin frequented Antwerp Zoo, which was for him an inexhaustible source of inspiration.C. Engelen and M. Marx, Beeldhouwkunst in België vanaf 1830, Brussel 2002, pp. 268–270
Work Collin's oeuvre, except for his youngest years, consisted exclusively of prolific sculpted animals, both wild and domestic. His statuettes were often cast in bronze by the lost wax process.
His most visible works are the 12 elephants created for a bridge in Antwerp in 1930 and his Éléphant monté par des Noirs ("Elephant mounted by blacks"), a monumental sculpture in concrete, created on the occasion of the Brussels International Exposition (1935) and exhibited in front of the pavilion of the Belgian Congo designed by René Schoentjes. The figures of the black Africans represent members of the Mangbetu people. After the end of the exhibition the sculpture was set up opposite the Royal Museum for Central Africa at Tervuren.L'orientalisme et l'africanisme dans l'art belge . 19e et 20e siècle, exhibition catalogue, Brussels, Galerie CGER, 14 September – 11 November 1984
Prizes Salons 1921: gold medal at the Salon des Indépendants, Paris 1922: bronze medal at the Salon des artistes français, ParisRené Édouard-Joseph, Dictionnaire biographique des artistes contemporains, tome 1, A-E, Art & Édition, 1930, p. 308
Olympics In 1920 Collin won a gold medal in the art competition of the Olympic Games held in Antwerp for his sculpture "La Force" ("Strength").
References
Further reading René Édouard-Joseph, Dictionnaire biographique des artistes contemporains, tome 1, A-E, Art & Édition, 1930, p. 308 "Les fauves d'Albéric Collin: des sculptures brutes dans le bronze" in Le Soir, 15 March 2007, by Claire Coljon Delarge: COLLIN, Albéric Alberic Collin, Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011, accessed 24 Dec 2021 OxfordArtOnline.com – Benezit (subscription required) Databaseolympics.com
External links Sladmore Gallery, London: Albéric Collin archive (photographs of sculptures)