Lucien Camille Golvin (18 July 1905 at
Villebougis (Yonne) – 6 of July, 2002) was a noted French university professor who specialized in the study of art from the peoples of the
Maghreb.
Biography
After spending his childhood at Yonne and his formative tertiary education years at
Joigny, he left for
Tunisia in 1929 to receive a professorship. After ten years, he received a nomination to be Regional Director of the Arts and Tradition at
Sfax. His knowledge of tribal Arab culture and personable self, led to take the organization to new heights. There, he founded the
Dar Jellouli Museum and during the sombre years of the Second World War, received a
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
degree.
The next big development in his career came in
Algeria when he took a position, from 1946 to 1957, as Director of Artisan Services to the General Government. There he founded 3 more museums, this time
Ethnographic Museums in
Oran
Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...
,
Algeria and
Constantine. He met
Georges Marçais who inspired him to follow a different route with him; to do archaeological research as a team at
Kalâa of Béni Hammad on the site of the palace of the
Ziri at Achir. In 1954, he submitted his grand thesis to the University of Algeria. From 1957 to 1962, he occupied the role of the Chairman of
Islamic Art and Civilization in at the faculty of
Social Sciences. From 1962 to 1977, he was a professor at the
Université d'Aix-Marseille
Aix-Marseille University (AMU; french: Aix-Marseille Université; formally incorporated as ''Université d'Aix-Marseille'') is a public research university located in the Provence region of southern France. It was founded in 1409 when Louis II of ...
where he was the Chairman of the Arts and the Chairman of Arabic Archeology.
He also led several scientific missions later in his career. From Balis-Meskéné (
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
) to
Thula (
Yemen) and
Fes
Fez or Fes (; ar, فاس, fās; zgh, ⴼⵉⵣⴰⵣ, fizaz; french: Fès) is a city in northern inland Morocco and the capital of the Fès-Meknès administrative region. It is the second largest city in Morocco, with a population of 1.11 mi ...
(
Morocco).
Golvin was the father of the
architect,
archeologist and
watercolorist Jean-Claude Golvin and of the artist Jacques Golvin.
Selected works/books
* Artisans sfaxiens. Étude technique et sociale sur l'artisanat tunisien. Notes de folklore et lexique par Lucien Golvin et A. Louis, éd. Institut des belles lettres arabes, Tunis, 1946
* Les tissages décorés d'El Djem et de Djébéniana. Étude de sociologie tunisienne, éd. Institut des belles lettres arabes, Tunis, 1949
* Les arts populaires en Algérie. Série d'études techniques et sociales, pub. Gouvernement général de l'Algérie, Alger, 6 tomes, 1949–1956
* Le Maghrib central à l'époque des Zirides. Recherche d'archéologie et d'histoire, pub. Gouvernement général de l'Algérie, éd. Arts et métiers graphiques, Paris, 1957
* Aspects de l'artisanat en Afrique du Nord, éd. Presses universitaires de France, Paris, 1957
* Essai sur l'architecture religieuse musulmane, éd. Klincksieck, Paris, 4 tomes, 1970–1979
* Palais et demeures d'Alger à la période ottomane, éd. Édisud, Aix-en-Provence, 1991
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Golvin, Lucien
Historians of Islamic art
North Africa
1905 births
2002 deaths
People from Yonne
French art historians
French male non-fiction writers
20th-century French male writers
French expatriates in Tunisia