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 The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...

Biography

After spending his childhood at Yonne and his formative tertiary education years at

Joigny Joigny () is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France. It is located on the banks of the river Yonne. History The current city, originally known as Joviniacum in Latin, was founded during Roman times ...

, he left for

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

in 1929 to receive a professorship. After ten years, he received a nomination to be Regional Director of the Arts and Tradition at

Sfax Sfax (; ar, صفاقس, Ṣafāqis ) is a city in Tunisia, located southeast of Tunis. The city, founded in AD849 on the ruins of Berber Taparura, is the capital of the Sfax Governorate (about 955,421 inhabitants in 2014), and a Mediterrane ...

. His knowledge of tribal Arab culture and personable self, led to take the organization to new heights. There, he founded the

Dar Jellouli Museum Dar Jellouli Museum ( ar, متحف دار الجلولي), also known as the Regional Museum of Arts and Folk Traditions, is an art museum located in Tunisia. It was founded in 1939 by the French scholar on Maghrebi art Lucien Golvin, in a pala ...

and during the sombre years of the Second World War, received a philosophy degree. The next big development in his career came in

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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 Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...

Museums in Oran,

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and

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I *Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine given name ...

. He met

Georges Marçais Georges Marçais ( Rennes, 11 March 1876 – Paris, 20 May 1962) was a French orientalist, historian, and scholar of Islamic art and architecture who specialized in the architecture of North Africa. Biography He initially trained as a painter ...

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 Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across a wide ra ...

and Civilization in at the faculty of

Social Sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...

. From 1962 to 1977, he was a professor at the Université d'Aix-Marseille 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) to

Thula Thula ( ar, ثُلَاء, Thulāʾ) or Thila ( ar, ثِلَاء, Thilāʾ) is a town in west-central Yemen. It is located in the 'Amran Governorate. Thula is one of five towns in Yemen on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List. Dating to the ...

(

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

) 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 Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

). Golvin was the father of the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

and

watercolorist Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

Jean-Claude Golvin Jean-Claude Golvin (born 18 December 1942) is a French archaeologist and architect. He specializes in the history of Roman amphitheatres and has published hundreds of reconstruction drawings of ancient monuments. Golvin is a researcher with the C ...

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