Jean Donnay

L'Enfance - Etching by J. Donnay - 1950s

1950s

Jean Donnay was born in Belgium in 1897. In 1910, he began his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts where he studied with Auguste Donnay, Adrien de Witte, François Maréchal, Émile Berchmans and Évariste Carpentier. In 1920, he won the Donnay Prize for painting, thanks to the scholarship, he made a stay in Paris. In 1921, Donnay was enrolled in the engraving course opened at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Liège by François Maréchal. In 1931, Jean Donnay was appointed professor of engraving at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Liège. Winner of the engraving prize of the province of Liège in 1946, Jean Donnay was seriously ill between 1950–53 and no longer worked. In 1961, he was appointed director of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Liège, where Georges Comaire succeeded him as a professor at the engraving workshop. In 1973, Jean Donnay was a member of the class of Fine Arts of the Royal Academy of Belgium. He exhibited not only in Belgium and Paris, but also all over the world (Monza, New York, Berlin, Prague, Moscow, etc.). In all his work we find representations of the decorations of his native village, Cheratte, Pays de Herve, the Meuse valley and the Liège region.