Jean de Botton
1898-1978
Jean de Botton had
a long and prolific career as painter, illustrator and muralist. His
successful career started in the 1920s and continued for four decades.
After earning a degree in Philosophy from the Lycée Rollins in
Paris, he went on to travel extensively and become a well
established artist.
De Botton’s early paintings display many of the characteristics
of the age of Art Deco. He incorporated romantic, allegorical and historical
themes with a modern technique. De Botton executed many very large canvases
in the 1920s in addition to many stylized portraits. As the decades
passed his style changed with the times; in the 1950s and into the 1960s
he painted and exhibited many abstract compositions.
De Botton served on the jury of the Salon d’Automne and was a
member of the Salon des Tuileries, Salon des Indépendants and
Salon des Humoristes. He was Vice President of the Salon and President
of the Salon France Nouvellle.
Solo Exhibitions between 1936 and 1942 include the Marie Harriman Gallery,
New York; the Rockefeller Center, New York; Carol Carstairs Gallery;
Leger & Co. Gallery, London; Seattle Museum; San Diego Museum; Philadelphia
Art Gallery; Grace Gallery, Boston; Galerie du Livre, Casablana; Santa
Barbara Museum; Pearl Gallery, Hollywood; Vista del Arroyo, Pasadena;
Francis Tayor Gallery, Beverly Hills; Courvoisier Gallery, San Francisco;
and the Knoedler & Co. Gallery, New York.
De Botton participated in several Carnegie Institute International Exhibitions
in Pittsburg, Boston and Chicago. He participated in the Official Exhibition
of French Art in Tokyo, Brussels and Anvers as well. In 1925 de Botton
exhibited a mural at the Salon d’Honneur des Beaux-Arts, Paris
and in 1937 at the Palace of the Navy, Paris. He also received the distinguished
honor of serving as the official painter at the coronation of H.M. King
George VI in 1937.
Book illustrations include Les Fleurs du Mal by Baudelaire, 1936; Claude
by Fauconnier, edition Firenczi; La Maison du Quai by Caston Cherau,
edition Firenczi; and a children’s book entitled Fou Fou Discovers
America. In 1942 de Botton designed a poster for the California National
Guard as well.
The artist delivered a lecture at the San Francisco Museum of Modern
Art in 1941 on the subject of Chiaroscuro and his theory of its detrimental
effect on modern painting.
In June of 1944 the California Palace of the Legion of Honor held a
retrospective de Botton’s paintings, frescoes, murals, drawings,
tapestries and book illustrations. The same year he had written the
ballet Triumph of Hope, which was performed at the San Francisco Opera
House.
Museums in Luxembourg, Versailles and Royan have collected his work.
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