Eugène Dodeigne: The Apostle of Pure Form

The sculpture is featured on the cover of the catalog for the exhibition that ended in March at Roubaix's museum La Piscine: the very first retrospective on Eugène Dodeigne . Perched on the artist's shoulder like a hunting trophy, the sculpture L’homme qui marche ( The Walking Man ), like its creator, knew nothing of the journey awaiting it then. In this black and white photograph, Dodeigne poses in front of the house he built in Bondues, near Tourcoing, where he studied at the School of Fine Arts. The future of the child who moved to the Nord region from his native Belgium was all mapped out.  His father, Armand, was a stonecutter who perpetuated a long family tradition in his marble yard in Mouvaux, where Eugène grew up among blocks of rocks. While stone—especially the famous bluestone from Soignies—eventually…