Ochs, Jacques

Sport:
fencing

Country Represented:
Belgium

Years Competed:
1912

Medals Received:
gold

Olympic Info:
A famous artist, Ochs was a member of the Belgian fencing team at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics and won a gold medal in the team epee event (his teammates included Gaston Salmon). Ochs also competed in three individual events. In the individual foil and individual epee, he reached the second round before being eliminated (he finished 39th in the foil and 29th in the epee. Ochs's final event was the individual sabre, but he was eliminated in the first round.

Career Highlights:
An outstanding fencer who won the Belgian National title in 1912 and the world championship in 1914, Ochs is better known as an artist. He studied at the Royal Academy of Art and won the Donnay Prize in 1903. While fencing internationally in the 1910s, Ochs also collaborated with the newspaper Why not? and began sketching. After serving in World War I, Ochs freelanced for several newspapers and journals, supplying sketches and illustrations. In 1921, he was appointed profesor of painting at the Royal Academy of Art at Liege; he was named Director of the Museum of the Art schools in 1934.

In 1940, Ochs was arrested and imprisoned by the Nazis in Breendonck transit camp, and although he was released in 1942, he was re-arrested in 1944 and was liberated by the British from Mechelen at the end of the war. During his time in the camps, Ochs sketched many pictures of his fellow inmates and unflattering portrayals of SS guards; some of his sketches are on display at Breendonck. Following the war, Ochs devoted himself almost entirely to painting.

Birth and Death Dates:
b. Feb. 18, 1883 - d. April 3, 1971

Origin:
Nice, France

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