The outbreak of the First World War caught him by surprise as he was on a short visit to Luxembourg. Stuck in the Grand Duchy, he was hired by the forge master Aloyse Meyer as a technical draftsman in the Dudelange steel plant. This post gave him the opportunity to hone his technical skills, while drawing metal workers in action. In 1919, Trémont returned to Paris, where he initially specialised in portraits, landscapes and still lifes. His attention subsequently turned to animal painting and sculpture, which entailed frequent visits to the Jardin des Plantes and the Zoological Garden. In 1927, he joined Luxembourg’s avant-garde artists (Kutter, Cito, Klopp, Rabinger and Schaack) as co-founder of the “Salon de la Sécession” (Engl. Salon of the Secession) in Luxembourg. In 1924, he produced his first sculptures. The late 1920s and the 1930s were particularly productive years, as it was during this period that he executed the two great lions adorning the entrance to Luxembourg’s City Hall. Trémont relocated permanently to Luxembourg in 1976. 

Shown from February to April 2022, the exhibition dedicated to Auguste Trémont organised in the framework of Esch2022 will situate his work and personality in the social and cultural environment of Dudelange and the Minette region during the First World War. Paintings and drawings of the steel industry and its workers in the Dudelange plant will be on display in the large hall of Galerie Schlassgoart. The exhibition will furthermore highlight the artist’s skills as a painter and animal sculptor through a selection of his best works. In parallel, it will offer a contemporary interpretation by the Luxembourgian sculptor Eric Schumacher, who will contribute to the display by developing an artistic intervention based on a personal dialogue with Trémont’s work. It will presumably revolve around two rather unusual sculptures, namely, two bronze models of the lions standing on the parvis of Luxembourg’s City Hill. Made in 1932, one of these two works was gifted by the Luxembourgish population to Sir Winston Churchill after the Second World War as a token of gratitude people for Great Britain’s role in the liberation of the country. These lions will also fascinate young audiences, for whom we have devised a special programme of educational activities. A publication will accompany the exhibition.