Jean Émile Laboureur

Self-portrait (mid-1920s)

Émile Laboureur,known asJean Émile(16 August 1877,Nantes– 16 June 1943, nearPénestin) was a French painter, designer,engraver,watercolorist,lithographer,and illustrator.

Biography

He was born to a prosperous bourgeois family. In 1895, he went to Paris and, following his father's wishes, enrolled at a law school. He stayed for only a short time before deciding to pursue a career in the fine arts instead,studying at theAcadémie Julian,where he learned engraving fromAuguste-Louis Lepère.His debut at theSaloncame in 1896.Most of his initial works werewood engravingsonPrimitivistthemes, reminiscent ofPaul Gauguin.

After a stay in Germany, visiting museums, he went to the United States in 1904. It was there he first began referring to himself as "Jean Émile". He returned to the United States and Canada several times from 1905 to 1909, to participate in exhibits. After 1911, he travelled to England, Italy, Greece, and Turkey.

Upon returning to Europe, he settled in Paris, where he switched from wood engraving toetching.Despite being conscripted in 1914, he continued to make sketches for his works and published three series of engravings on the theme of war.

He illustrated his first book,L'Appartement des jeunes fillesbyRoger Allard,in 1919. He would eventually illustrate sixty-six titles, including works byJean Giraudoux,Jacques Cazotte,Remy de Gourmont,Auguste de Villiers de L'Isle-Adam,André Maurois,Colette,Tristan Derème,Anna de Noailles,Paul-Jean TouletandMarcel Proust.He also contributed to magazines and journals, such asGazette du Bon TonandLa Revue musicale,and taught engraving in his workshop. Among his notable students wereMarie LaurencinandAndré Dunoyer de Segonzac.At the beginning of the 1930s, he was commissioned to provide illustrations for theCatalogue Manufrance,which employed engravings for several decades after that.

Although based in Paris, he bought a house inBrittanyand spent the summer months there. One of his drawings of a Breton landscape was engraved byJean Antonin Delzersand featured on the twoFrancsstamp in 1935. From 1928 to 1935, he wrote several books and articles on the art of engraving; notablyConsidérations sur la gravure originale(1928), published in Brussels.

DuringWorld War II,he became ill and retired to his home near Pénestin, where he died in 1943. A street in Nantes was named after him.His works may be seen at theMusée du Louvre,theMusée d'Orsay,theMusée des Beaux-Arts de Nantesand theMusée d'Art moderne Richard Anacréon.

Selected works

• 
  Cemetery
• 
  Vegetable Market
• 
  The Last Bus
• 
  Bachelor's Fare
• 
  Black Americans
  atSaint-Nazaire
• 
  The Goose Lady

Further reading

• Sylvain Laboureur,Catalogue complet de l'œuvre de Jean-Émile Laboureur,Neuchâtel, Ides et calendes, 1989-1991ISBN978-2-8258-0026-3

External links

Media related toJean Émile Laboureurat Wikimedia Commons