Yvonne Vieslet

 

Artist description

Stolen by criminals, the statue of Yvonne Vieslet in Monceau had disappeared. A new sculpture, very close to the original, was inaugurated on July 17, 2010, in the same place.
The little girl, with a slight smile on her lips and an angelic appearance, passes bread through the fence, under the benevolent gaze of her conscience... The statue of Yvonne Vieslet has returned to its place on Rue Ferrer in Monceau-sur-Sambre. Or more precisely, a new sculpture of the young martyr now fills the void left by criminals who odiously took the original bronze work on February 12, 2007.

Assassinated for a bun offered

Little Yvonne Vieslet was ten years old in 1918 when the war was nearing its end. She lived in Monceau-sur-Sambre, where she was born. On that day, October 12, she accompanied her mother to take dinner to her father Émile, who worked in Marchienne. The girl's path crossed that of a group of French prisoners, penned behind bars at the Saint-Édouard circle. The plight of the poor fighters, exhausted and hungry, touched the child. Without heeding Prussian injunctions, she spontaneously offered one of the unfortunate men the bun she had received at school. A gunshot rang out.. Grievously wounded, the little girl fell. She succumbed to her injuries a few hours later. The emotion among the population was commensurate with the gesture, imbued with kindness and humanity, that the poor child had shown, crushed by the madness of war.

A tribute was paid to her at the end of the war. But the monument in Monceau was not erected until 1956. The theft of the statue had outraged the Moncellois, especially the elders and patriotic associations. The procedure was long, but the statue of Yvonne Vieslet was to return to its place. The task fell to an industrial designer, owner of a foundry in Gosselies.

"The position is identical, but for the physiognomy, I worked based on the few available photos, a total of 3 photos," explains the artist.

Two months of work were required to complete the project. The sculpture is made of polyester with a bronze finish as originally. A project dear to his heart. "My mother knew the original sculpture well, it was her former school."

Article Vers l'avenir Benoît Wattier July 17, 2010