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Key figures

Origin and history

The school group Auguste Herbin found its origins in a school built in 1932 by Pierre Leprince-Ringuet, which became too small to accommodate all students. In January 1956, following a report of the inspection of primary education, the commune of Cateau-Cambrésis decided to extend the school for girls, located on Cuvier Street. The architect Ernest Gaillard is in charge of the project and asks the painter Auguste Herbin to decorate the new building of his works.

The extension work took place from February to October 1957. Auguste Herbin designed an abstract mosaic for the facade, inspired by the word Orpheus, whose design was submitted to the academic inspector on 2 January 1958. At the same time, he collaborated with master glassmaker Henri Lhotellier to create a stained glass window, which was laid on 27 August 1958. This stained glass, Herbin's unique stained glass work, marks the culmination of this artistic and functional extension.

The gable façade overlooking the Place du 3-Septembre-1944, decorated with mosaic, is inscribed in the Historical Monuments by order of 28 December 2001. The building, owned by the municipality, bears witness to the encounter between school architecture and abstract art, in the context of the reconstruction and modernization of public facilities after the war.

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