Born to Jewish parents in Leova, Izmailsky Uyezd, Bessarabia Governorate, Russian Empire, he left Romania for Belgium in 1928 to devote himself entirely to his passion for sculpture and drawing.
After completing his military service back home, he returned to Liège and registered at the Académie des Beaux-Arts de la Ville, where he was awarded first prize for statuary art in 1933.
1945 was the watershed year: Ianchelevici obtained Belgian nationality, and his famous statue l'Appel ("The Call") was officially unveiled in La Louvière.
10 years later, Ianchelevici was awarded a grant to work in the Belgian Congo, where he designed three statues intended to supplement the famous Stanley-monument in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa) and produced a number of outstanding drawings.
The artist's career underwent a major change at this point, as he embarked upon a ceaseless quest for simpler forms and more schematic faces (Eve, 1980).