Florent Vincent Emile Lucien Dechaineux (15 July 18694 April 1957) was a Belgian-born Australian artist active in

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

Early life

Dechaineux was born on 15 July 1869 in Liège, Belgium to François Prosper Dechaineux and his wife Josephine Leopold Leontine (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Houet). The family emigrated to Australia in 1884, after failing in their fruit-farming and gold-mining endeavours. Dechaineux attended the Sydney Technical College from 1885 to 1888, where he came under the tutelage of house painter Lucien Henry. Dechaineux subsequently took lessons from

Julian Ashton Julian Rossi Ashton (27 January 185127 April 1942) was an English-born Australian artist and teacher. He is best known for founding the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney and encouraging Australian painters to capture local life and scenery ' ...

at the Art Society of New South Wales, while focusing on architecture and design, and eventually took over Henry as a design lecturer at the Sydney Technical College.

Personal life and career

On 23 December 1891 Dechaineux married Tasmanian-born Isabella "Ella" Jane Briant at St John's Church of England in Darlinghurst. They had a son and a daughter. In 1895, he became a technical art instructor at the Launceston Technical School in Tasmania and in 1907, he was appointed as principal of the Hobart Technical School, at which he continued to be an art lecturer. His wife died in 1908 and he remarried on 21 December 1909; his second wife, Mary Giblin was also an artist who specialised in oil painting. They had a son and a daughter. Dechaineux remained as principal-cum-teacher at the school until his retirement in December 1939. He was also a member of the Architects' Registration Board and a drawing examiner at the University of Tasmania. Together with his second wife, Dechaineux organised debating and reading clubs. His first son, Captain Emile Frank Verlaine Dechaineux died in battle while commanding HMAS ''Australia'' in 1944.

Death

Dechaienux died on 4 April 1957 in Hobart and was buried at

Cornelian Bay Cemetery Cornelian Bay Cemetery is a cemetery in Cornelian Bay, Tasmania, Australia. It is the oldest cemetery in Tasmania that remains in use. History The cemetery location, a section of the former Government Farm site, was selected in the late 1860s, ...

. A portrait of Dechaineux by Jack Carington Smith is housed at the Tasmanian Art Gallery. In 1956, the Hobart Technical College named an extension of its campus after Dechaineux.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dechaineux, Lucien 1869 births 1957 deaths Artists from Liège 20th-century Australian artists Belgian emigrants to Australia Burials in Tasmania