Fons Huylebroeck

Fons Huylebroeck spent most of his life in his hometown of Aalst in the East Flanders province, where he attended art school. He started with drawing but soon switched to sculpturing. For 10 years he worked as an assistant to other sculptors including for 3 m high images in bluestone for the 1935 World’s Fair, which are still exhibited in Bruxelles. Subsequently he worked with famous sculptor Pierre De Soete in Bruxelles.

When his mother died in 1935, Huylebroeck made his first death mask, and many more of artists and politicians were to follow. At the request of Italian industrialist Baron Parelli he made a bust of Hitler. At the 1936 Olympics, he submitted an approximately 15 cm high figurine of a footballer, which was donated as a football trophy by the Bruxelles newspaper Le Sportif. Until the 1940s he continued to complete many marble sculptures designed by De Soete.

Huylebroeck then started a small atelier, as he became more and more successful. Every year he exhibited together with other well-known Belgium artists and made many portraits on demand. At the same time he started carving ivory for brooches and medallions. After the war he cut 48 ornaments for the Aalsters mansion and also did industrial work. In 1951 he made the Three Heads Bust on the occasion of the 135th anniversary of the “De Gheest” brewery. Starting in 1962 he created plaques and trophies for sports clubs or bas-reliefs of famous personalities. Huylebroeck was a versatile artist, working in wood, stone, marble, plaster, bronze, aluminum, ivory, and copper. After 1962 he also painted.