Idel Ianchelevici was born in 1909, in Leova, a small town in Bessarabia. He studied high school in Chisinau and in 1928 he moved to Belgium, in order to dedicate himself to his passion for sculpture and drawing.
In 1933 he received his first prize statuary art. In the following period, he participated in the project of the Romanian pavilion of the International Universal Exhibition in Brussels of the year 1935. He has organized personal exhibitions in Brussels, Tel Aviv, Paris, Amsterdam etc. In 1950 he moved to France, where he remained until his death in, in 1994, at the age of 86.
Important creations created by Ianchelevici are located in public places in Belgium, Israel and Congo. His works can be admired in numerous museums and private collections from all over the world. As a plus to the recognition of his talent, along with the museum in Holland, inaugurated in May 1987, two more similar institutions are dedicated to the artist of Romanian origins, in Belgium and France.
In 2004, when 10 years have passed since the death of the Belgian sculptor Idel Ianchelevici, Romfilatelia, the company specialized in issuing and trading Romanian postage stamps, releases a joint stamp issue, together with the Belgian Post.
The launch of this issue will take place during the 23rd edition of the Universal Postal Union Congress, hosted by Romania.
The two postage stamps each reproduce two of the most well known bronze sculptures of the artist: Perennis perdurat poeta and L’appel.
Perrenis perdurat poeta represents a young man resting, as if sleeping, laying on the backs of two adjacent horses which carry the poet towards his destiny. The sweetening of the forms and the economy of means used by the artist introduce the symbol in an almost musical universe, in which sculpture unites with poetry. The elongated, pure forms lose themselves in density, thus gaining rhythm, the fines lines of the sculptures leading us to the idea of spiritual life and meditation.
L’appel is an avant-garde sculpture of concrete and bronze, over 4 meters high, which presents itself as a symbol of a solid and optimistic humanity. The monument represents a call to the people for universal peace. L’appel defines in a natural way the work of the author, specifically the elevation of the simple man towards the light of the spirit.
The artistic creation exists through the force that it emits, through the sobriety which it imposes on its spectators; while watching it, one may never remain indifferent, but on the contrary, be penetrated by its force.
Idel Ianchevici, the artist of Romanian origins, brought stone to life just to make it sleep again through sculptures of a cold but sensitive refinement.
