In general

Frans Jochems left us an impressive and very varied oeuvre. We have tried to categorize the works and came to the classification you can find on the navigation bar.

As a result of his talent and his thorough education Frans Jochems mastered all techniques and used different materials : clay, plaster, marble, bronze, wood, terra-cotta, cement, white stone, ivory, …

Thanks to his profound anatomical knowledge he was able to put a great expressive power into his works, whatever the subject was.

In the course of the years we can notice an evolution from what was called “academic” to a very proper, always recognizable “Jochems”-style.


De belangrijkste kenmerken van zijn stijl zijn :

1. sobriety, sentiment but no sentimentality
2. expressiveness, without exaggeration
3. sense of monumentality, also in smaller works.

The combination of these elements is quite scarce in the sculpting art and has as a result that Frans Jochems’ sculptures are able to face time.

Frans Jochems obtained numerous assignments for portraits, funerary and war monuments, religious work.

He designed the war monuments of Verviers, Waremme, Chaudfontaine, Lommel, Sterckxhof Deurne, Silsburg Borgerhout, Biévenne, Kruibeke.

The City of Antwerp charged him with the design of the medals “Karel Verlat” and “Kruisschans” (at the inauguration of the “Kruisschans” dock), and he was assigned with sculpting works for the house of Rubens (busts of Sophocles and Plato and wooden caryatides).

Besides the assignments he could follow his own inspiration. His favourite themes were :


• motherly love : a lot of sculptures represent mother and child
• nudes : he succeeded in expressing the beauty and attractiveness of the female body in an always changing pose and without provocation
• animals : here he could go his own way and express his artistic skill without anyone interfering.


Frans Jochems also made himself a reputation sculpting portraits and animals because of the vivid psychology speaking from his works. His preference for the motherly love proves the profound human nature of this artist, who was an extremely mild and gentle person. In art circles he only had friends.

Frans Jochems was not a revolutionary nor an innovating artist. He stuck to the classical form of the sculpting art. He did not experiment, but was an expert to the backbone. He was not influenced by expressionism and did not occupy himself with abstract art. His art was as he was himself : honest and pure.