Edmond Aman-Jean (13 January 1858,

Chevry-Cossigny Chevry-Cossigny () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France. Demographics The inhabitants are called ''Chevriards''. See also ...

– 25 January 1936,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

) was a French

symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

painter, who co-founded the

Salon des Tuileries The Salon des Tuileries was an annual art exhibition for painting and sculpture, created June 14, 1923, co-founded by painters Albert Besnard and Bessie Davidson, sculptor Antoine Bourdelle, architect Auguste Perret, and others. The first year's e ...

in 1923.

Life

His father was the owner and operator of an industrial

lime kiln A lime kiln is a kiln used for the calcination of limestone (calcium carbonate) to produce the form of lime (material), lime called quicklime (calcium oxide). The chemical equation for this chemical reaction, reaction is :Calcium carbonate, Ca ...

. He had his first art lessons with

Henri Lehmann Henri Lehmann (; 14 April 1814 – 30 March 1882) was a German-born French historical painter and portraitist. Life Born Heinrich Salem Lehmann in Kiel, in the Duchy of Holstein, he received his first art tuition from his father Leo Lehmann ( ...

at the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Science ...

, where he shared a workshop with

Georges Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , , ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough su ...

. He also befriended the

Symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

painters,

Alphonse Osbert Alphonse Osbert (23 March 1857 – 11 August 1939) was a French Symbolist painter. Educated at the École des Beaux-Arts, his earliest passion was for the great Spanish masters, particularly Jusepe de Ribera. A shift away from his academic styl ...

and

Alexandre Séon Alexandre Séon (1855, Chazelles-sur-Lyon, Loire – 1917, Paris) was a French Symbolist artist, illustrator and decorator. Séon studied at the Beaux-Arts of Lyon and Paris, becoming a student of Puvis de Chavannes in 1891, with whom he later co ...

. In 1886, he obtained a travelling scholarship and went to Italy, together with

Henri-Jean Guillaume Martin Henri-Jean Guillaume "Henri" Martin (; 5 August 1860 – 12 November 1943) was a French painter. Elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1917, he is known for his early 1920s work on the walls of the Salle de l'Assemblée générale, where th ...

and

Ernest Laurent Ernest Joseph Laurent (June 8, 1859 – June 25, 1929) was a French painter and printmaker. He was born in Gentilly and died in Bièvres, Essonne. Laurent was a neo-impressionist artist whose main influences were his instructor Ernest Héb ...

; studying the

Old Masters In art history, "Old Master" (or "old master")Old Masters De ...

. Along with Seurat, he worked as an assistant to

Puvis de Chavannes Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (14 December 1824 – 24 October 1898) was a French painter known for his mural painting, who came to be known as "the painter for France". He became the co-founder and president of the Société Nationale des Beau ...

, helping him to realize several of his murals. In 1892, he painted a portrait of the poet,

Paul Verlaine Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' in international and ...

, during his convalescence for

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...

at the in the

14th arrondissement of Paris The 14th arrondissement of Paris ( ), officially named ''arrondissement de l'Observatoire'' (; meaning "arrondissement of the Observatory", after the Paris Observatory), is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. It is situa ...

. Verlaine dedicated a

sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, ...

to him and they remained good friends until Verlaine's death in 1896. He was also one of the first to recognize Joséphin Péladan as an important artist and exhibited at one of the first showings held at the

Salon de la Rose + Croix Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (Pa ...

. Later, he became an important teacher in his own right. His students included

Charles Sydney Hopkinson Charles Sydney Hopkinson (July 27, 1869 – October 16, 1962) was an American portrait painter and landscape watercolorist. He maintained a studio in the Fenway Studios building in Boston from 1906 to 1962. He painted over 800 portraits in a d ...

Theodor Pallady Theodor Pallady (; 11 April 1871 – 16 August 1956) was a Romanian painter. Biography Theodor Pallady was the son of Ioan Pallady and Maria Cantacuzino, the older sister of Romanian diplomat Neculai B. Cantacuzino. He was born in Iași, Romani ...

, and

Nicolae Tonitza Nicolae Tonitza (; April 13, 1886 – February 27, 1940) was a Romanian painter, engraver, lithographer, journalist and art critic. Drawing inspiration from Post-impressionism and Expressionism, he had a major role in introducing modernist g ...

. In 1923, together with

Albert Besnard Paul-Albert Besnard (2 June 1849 – 4 December 1934) was a French painter and printmaker. Biography Besnard was born in Paris and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, studied with Jean Bremond and was influenced by Alexandre Cabanel. He wo ...

and

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

, he helped create the

. Ten years later, he was named a Commander in the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

. In 1892, he married Thadée Jacquet, the daughter of an Imperial Prefect, who was also a painter. They had two children,

François François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, Kin ...

, who became a well-known writer, and , who was a painter and illustrator.

Art

Aman-Jean established his reputation primarily for his portraits, especially of female subjects; he was also noted for his murals in public and official buildings, including the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

. Like many French artists of his generation, he was influenced by the new perspectives on Japanese art current in Paris in his day; more unusually, he was interested in the

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

artists in England. He was a close friend of

; the two artists shared a Paris studio in 1879. Art historian Robert Herbert called Seurat's portrait of Aman-Jean, "one of the great portrait drawings of the nineteenth century."Robert L. Herbert, ''Seurat: Drawings and Paintings'', New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University Press, 2001; p. 29. It was the first work Seurat showed, at the

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

in 1883. Aman-Jean also worked in lithography and printmaking and designed posters.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aman-Jean, Edmond 1858 births 1936 deaths People from Seine-et-Marne 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists French Symbolist painters 19th-century French male artists French art critics