Adolphe Deville
Adolphe Deville was born on 13 November 1935 in Hespérange and died on 28 May 2022 in Esch-sur-Alzette. A Luxembourger by birth, the painter enjoyed a brilliant career after studying at the Ecole Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris and the Académie des Beaux-Arts de Peinture under André Lhôte (who was to become his teacher).
From 1954 until 1992, Adolphe Deville travelled constantly to Italy, the South of France and the United States, discovering new landscapes and new lights that would inspire all his work.
Watercolours, oils, sculptures, mosaics, stained glass, jewellery... The artist's work is protean but characterised by a profound unity. The perfect control of volumes, the exuberance of colours and the vividness of light create a dazzling effect that the viewer's eye cannot escape.
- 1954-1962
- Study trips to Italy (Ravenna and Venice) for archaeology, architecture and mosaics.
- 1957 – 1961
- Studied architecture at the Ecole Supérieure d'Architecture in Paris, then enrolled at André Lhote's Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Montparnasse.
- 1961 – 1962
- Studied at the "Städelschule" National School of Fine Arts in Frankfurt am Main
- 1962
- Archaeology internship at the Trier Museum and participation in the excavation of the imperial baths
- From 1964
- Art education teacher in Luxembourg
- 2022
- Adolphe Deville: Retrospective, Paso Museum, Drusenheim
- AD. Deville, his life and workSchëfflenger Konschthais, Schifflange
- 2016
- Retrospektive - Aquarelle, Ölmalerei und MosaikenEsch Theater, Esch-sur-Alzette
- 2010
- Deville A : Atelier BlumenPavillon du Centenaire, Esch-sur-Alzette
- 2008
- Konscht Fir D'Liewen (group show), Galerie du Pavillon du Centenaire, Esch-sur-Alzette
- 2004
- Adolphe Deville: WorksEsch Theater Galerie, Esch-sur-Alzette
- 1995
- Wine, vines, mosaicsWellenstein-Bech-Kleinmacher cellar, Wellenstein
- Adolphe Deville: watercolours, oils, mosaicsSunnen Gallery, Bech-Kleinmacher
- 1994-95
- Limited Edition VIII, art & wineStadtbredimus Castle
- 1988
- Adolphe Deville exhibitionSunnen Gallery, Bech-Kleinmacher
- 1985
- 4 Luxembourg artistsUNESCO, Salle des pas perdus, Paris
- A. Deville : Mosaic - Oil - WatercolourFoyer Européen des Beaux-Arts in Luxembourg
- 1980
- Deville AD: oil and watercolour paintingsMunicipal Art Gallery, Esch-sur-Alzette
- 1970
- Deville, personal exhibitionMainz
- 1966
- Provence as seen by Adolphe Deville and Herbert WelfertzGalerie Le Studio, Luxembourg
- 1960
- Fondation Belge, Group exhibitionFondation Biermans-Lapotre, Paris
The new Luxembourg, Reflections of the Imagination
N° 7 - autumn/winter 1986
MAGAZINE
Ad. Deville
Landscapes bursting with colour
Jean-Michel Klopp
Night falls slowly. Near the shepherds of the night, there is a tall man, with frank eyes, sensitive words and a friendly tone of voice! A light wind is blowing, it's fine outside... Ad. Deville will be shaking my hand in a few moments. His wife, who is so calm and gentle, is there too, as are the dog and the cat. My first evening with the Devilles is drawing to a close.
A first contact with the artist, his work, his dreams. A "coup de coeur"... yes, that's what I call my emotion for these works, so poetic, so sensitive.
I invite you to discover a Luxembourg painter who is carving out a place for himself in the art scene in our country, as well as abroad. Deville is a true artist, in the best sense of the word!
Chez. Deville...
When you arrive at Deville's, suddenly your world is turned upside down. Immediately a whole universe of poetry bursts into view. Nothing is indifferent. Everything is magic. Magic captured. Here, I would say that the word re-creation is used advisedly.
Ad. Deville has indeed given new life, flavour and mystery to this old presbytery in Schifflange, doomed to destruction! Certainly doomed to destruction without a moment's hesitation, because it was so terribly decided by irresponsible people who were incapable of even dreaming of returning to their roots. Here, there is an abundance of flesh, life and power, and the result, poignant and beautiful, is the Schifflange presbytery, where Deville's contemporary art blends so delicately and delightfully with the objects, walls and antiques.
And then there's the park behind the building. A forest park, a flower-bedecked park, a green park. Where we'd like to dream a little more often. Where we'd even like to take a step back in time, to surprise confidences, delights, retreats, peaceful or stormy unions with God.
An angel with a goose listens to birdsong. Naked, it takes him barely a few seconds to bathe in the limpid water of a spring. A kind of space for art.
Let's go inside. Let's close the door. Or let me leave it open. The smell coming from outside is so good, so fresh, so fragrant.
The presbytery is spacious. The walls are thick. Everything is in its place. You have to allow yourself to be surprised, to go from one astonishment to another.
Like a child who lets himself be taken by the hand.
By the free hand of the imagination... On the walls. Deville and more Deville and more Deville. Adolphe of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Everywhere you see objects from the past, especially Madonnas... statues, church ornaments... and that old pinball machine at the back of the studio. The vast fireplace is an invitation to dream, and the sink carved into the stone has seen many a dish!
In this "Ad. in Wonderland" world, a black cat purrs, and a loving brown-haired dog runs around on legs, endlessly begging for a caress. The artist's daughter adds to the cheerfulness of the house. His wife appears for a moment to say hello, or for a friendly chat.
La Provence.
The multi-dimensional love of things past, the old presbytery, the closeness of youth in the classroom, all these things are part of Deville's work. A self-confident Deville-
master on board the ship of creation!
A few decades back
To see Deville's work is to grasp the painter, to understand, to realise that this man was born for art, for the poetry of everyday life.
After completing the industrial section at the Lycée d'Esch-sur-Alzette, Deville was admitted to the Ecole Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris. Boulevard Raspail was not to be his home for long. An illness that certainly did not allow him to work outdoors in all kinds of bad weather meant that he changed direction.
He already knew the vivacity and breadth of his passion for painting. He enrolled at the Beaux-Arts in Paris, but for two years he attended classes with André Lhote in Montparnaux. Lhote, an internationally renowned cubist artist, was to be a complete teacher. Was it not he who once said
"To speak well of others is in practice to speak ill of oneself"...
Later, excellent teachers taught him other techniques at the "Staatliche Hochschule for bildende Kunst" in Frankfurt.
These years spent abroad brought him into contact with decoration. Decoration for the "Grand Bar des Luxembourgeois", for example, then for various theatre plays.
In 1962, Ad. Deville was appointed professor of drawing and art history at the Lycée d'Esch sur Alzette.
Deville and the theatre
Blanche Weicherding-Goergen delightfully ancedotes her own love affair with Deville's decorations: "One day I went to his Lycée in Esch-sur-Alzette to watch the play 'Männeraus Eisen'* that Ed Maroldt had written and directed with his students. When I went into the theatre, I was amazed. I had understood.
At last! Deville is our great theatre set designer. His sets, made with the means at hand, were striking.
Did you ever think that Deville might be the man to decorate the new Frankfurt Theatre? And don't you think that he would be one of the few people who could understand the 'Semper-Oper' in Dresden? I think that Semper Deville's grandiose idea could finally come to fruition. He's made for large surfaces; he has an understanding of ancient architecture. Quite simply, I'd like to go and see his set in Dresden.
Deville and history
He certainly won't deny it. Even if you denounce him, saying, "Sir, your taste for old things is a sin."
Yes, Deville is passionate about architecture and history. When he was very young, he carried out numerous excavations free of charge for the Trier Museum. Along with Georges Calteux, Deville led the fight to save some of the most prestigious buildings in our national heritage: Loeschenhaus - Chateau Bervart - Maison Meder. His relevant involvement in associations such as "Sauver la Ville" and "Sites et Monuments" will enable him to fight even more vigorously to save what some people decide to destroy foolishly.
Founding member of the Société d'Actionnaires
"One day, using his own money, he set about saving a building that was doomed to destruction: the former presbytery of Schifflange, where he now lives. I had the pleasure of describing the atmosphere, the poetry and the grace of this presbytery.
The colours of Ad. Deville
Deville's oils, watercolours and mosaics reflect a sincere need for luminous expression. Everywhere there is a burst, a splash of colour. Placed colours, executed with great mastery.
Deville's perfection was suddenly shattered after his near-fatal encounter with Dame Mort. Today Deville avoids stress and dangerous fatigue. He takes more time to live. He is less scattered. His paintings are true passions. Without lightness or ease, they allow even the uninitiated to penetrate, to see the subject, to enter into it with serenity. That's how much Deville's work appeals.
Blanche Weicherding-Goergen helps us to better understand Deville's talent:
"Examining Deville's latest watercolours is no easy task. You need a musical background. Go and contemplate them with Debussy or Fauré and you will find all the tenderness that a human being adoring nature can put into them."
In just a few months, he has embarked on a perfec-tion project. His skies are impeccable. His surfaces of yellow and grey are astonishing in their simplicity and purity.
La Provence
There are countless Provences: as many as there are artists who have painted it, or brought it to life in their stories, novels or films. The Provence of Mistral and that of Van Gogh, of Giono and Cézanne, of Pagnol and Daudet! The people of Provence are proud of their vast garden and invite you to share their love of a land that has shaped their character.
(See La Provence by Jean-Paul Clébert, published by Editions Nathan.) Deville loves Provence, and for many years he has spent long months, endless seasons, there to gather the fruits of astonishing encounters.
Provence is constantly changing its face and its finery. Deville captures the colours and shapes, revealing his communication with the landscape. The houses are there, but sometimes he ignores them or marvellously invents the silhouette of the woman in his compositions.
The ghosts of Provence at night, when the hills turn a deep blue, inspire him as successfully as a proud château on a rocky outcrop in the distance, or a Provençal festival.
Provence has lost its tranquillity. Burlesque, crazy, sacrilegious scenes often take place there. Strange people have invaded its poetry, and their marriage with the scenery is not always a success.
But Deville's Provence is full of mystery, poetry and love. His work is to be savoured in a precious chalice, so full is it of human power.
In the land of mosaics
Deville's mosaics are colossal. Full of charm and colour, just like his oils and watercolours.
In Ravenna, Deville teamed up with the mosaicist Signorini to create mosaics in which the quality of execution and the sensitivity of the mosaicist convey a strong sense of personal expression.
An ongoing battle
Deville is an artist of implacable will, and only a constant struggle has enabled him to reach some of the highest spheres of creation today. Nor does he have to worry about the international art market. Here too, his path and his destiny are already mapped out.
Blanche Weicherding-Goergen , Luxembourg art critic, 1985, at an exhibition of Adolphe Deville's work.
Si Deville m'était conté.
It's right there. In front of me. They say he's fifty. He's tall, lanky, thin. His complexion is all grey. His thin, thin lips are turned up in a mischievous, teasing, laughing, provocative, sensual, subversive smile, reinforced by the sparkle of his indefinitely coloured eyes, which say better than any doctor that he knows how to conquer any illness, that he is an artist, that his dynamism is worse than ever, that this summer he won one of the most important stages of his career by playing absolutely firm scales in watercolours.
I've known Deville since he did his first large-format paintings at the Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre in Paris.
He was destined for architecture, but had suddenly turned to painting. He enrolled at the Ecole Spéciale d'Architecture, then at the Académie des Beaux Arts in Paris and with André Lhôte in Montparnasse.
At one point the students asked him to decorate their hall for the "Grand Bal des Luxembourgeois". He said "Yes", just as he always says yes when asked to do anything. I didn't know this artist, who always wore a grey jumper and looked exactly the same then as he does now. I'd gone out late at night to watch him decorate. Naturally, he didn't speak to me. He was older than me. And if you know the student scene, that was obvious.
A young girl who dared - oh too young - to meddle with decoration! He had painted a cauldron on heavy paper, ...., with women inside. They were all the size of Hélène Fourment, Rubens' wife. He painted all night long.
To please. But he too was enjoying himself. In front of him, the big empty box attracted him. Did he suspect even then that he was a talented decorator? No!
I don't think so. I didn't realise the extent of it either until the day I went to his school in Esch-sur-Alzette to watch the play "Männer aus Eisen", which Ed Maroldt had written and directed with students.
When I entered the room I was amazed.
I understood. At last! Deville is our greatest theatre designer. His sets, made with the means at hand, were striking. And so was I. I was there in the auditorium as a student. I was watching and I had to say to myself: No. I couldn't help him. I couldn't help him create a set for the Nouveau Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg, or even for the one in Esch-sur-Alzette. My heart sank, and during the performance, during which I didn't listen to anything else, I took the firm decision to work hard to open up the international market for our artists. To rot in a backwater is disgusting!
Today, Sunday, my desk is full of drawings and watercolours by Deville.
The time has now come for it to break out of these flimsy national boundaries.
Did you ever think that Deville might be the man to decorate the new Frankfurt Theatre? And don't you think he would be one of the few people who could understand the Dresden 'Semper-Oper'?
I think that within the framework of Semper's grandiose idea, Deville could finally come to fruition. He is made for large surfaces; he has an understanding of ancient architecture. Quite simply, I'd like to go and see his set in Dresden.
Do you know Deville? His first name is Adolphe. What could be more dreadful? I write "Adoleff" on all my letters. I call him either 'Ad' or 'Ady'. No! Now I'm lying!
His daughter, whom he adores, and his wife, whose devotion is beyond compare, call him "Ady". We, the old-timers from Paris, his friends today, shout out to him: "Ad, we need you". And he has only one answer: "Yes, of course! When and at what time?" In all your life you will find so few friends who have these words. He always has them. From a human point of view, the artist Deville knows no selfishness. And this factor is rare - I would even say extremely rare - among artists. They all have a tendency to climb to the second rung of the ladder in their early years and look down on the world.
That's why they fail. And the trouble they take is only normal.
At the beginning of his stay in Luxembourg, Deville lived in a nasty flat in Esch-Lallange until the day he decided to pay off a large debt and buy the empty sixteenth-century parish house in Schifflange.
He decorated it with his innate fantasy, with his love of old statues and stones, and at the same time with a touch of the macabre that always struck me. He has a dark sense of humour. In his shop windows, Spanish Virgins dressed in dusty antique robes stand alongside Baroque cherubs and Roman sculptures. He loves the country's architectural heritage, and his collection, mixed with his paintings, which often reflect his great love for André Lhôte, his master, is just the thing to astound the most discerning art lover.
Several years ago, Deville took up mosaics. He put all his power, his love of life and his respect for ancient traditions into it. He is doing what both the Council of Europe and ICOMOS preach so poorly: integrating the modern with ancient tradition. He is one of the leading figures in our mosaic; I have always advised him to follow this path, but has anyone understood his intellectual and physical effort?
Deville is a committed artist. The strength he uses every day to fulfil his own desires is enormous. There are so few people who understand complete commitment.
One day I phoned him to say: "We need to restore the Grund. I need your help. He had only one reply.
"All right, then. It's a deal, but I don't have any money. I'm going to take out a loan with my bank right now. So I won't be able to be at your place before such and such an hour." And without hesitation Deville became a founder member of the "Vieux Luxembourg" company. I would like to highlight this fact because, despite the setbacks caused by his health, he held firm and will do so until the end.
His 1985 exhibition was a challenge to life and death. His oil paintings require at least four metres of distance to reveal their depth. In one year he matured more than normal life would have allowed him to evolve in ten years. The greatest sin of all is to look at his impastos from a distance of 20 cm. Step back, but step back! Look at the immense depth of the landscapes of Provence that he loves so much.
His latest watercolours make him the best augarellist living in Luxembourg. His technique is perfect. It is possible to cut out surfaces measuring 10 x 10 cm in a single work. The whole composition always fits together. There are no more coincidences, no more unforeseen events. I contemplated them for days on end, trying to understand the meaning of a man who was determined to master all his doctors. In a work like "La Tourmente", he lets off all his steam and doesn't mind adding that touch of madness that shows he's not the corner shop. Van Gogh cut off an ear. He doesn't, but the spirit of that master is close at hand.
Examining Deville's latest watercolours is no easy task. You need a musical background. Go and contemplate them with Debussy or Fauré and you will find all the tenderness that a human being adoring nature can put into them. But in one of his last works, it was only Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherazade that could keep me awake until 2 o'clock in the morning to understand the poetry, the interplay, the harmony of the slightest detail.
In the space of just a few months, he has thrown himself into perfection. His skies are impeccable. His surfaces of yellow and grey are astonishing in their simplicity and purity.
Once again he has won. He has fought hard and his smile cannot hide the hours of hard work he has put in.
A constant battle with life, which played some very nasty tricks on him, and an implacable will, today give us the measure of the artist who, in one fell swoop, shattered our fragile borders and was recognised as a valuable European painter, with no need to worry in the slightest about the international art market.
Artworks catalogue
