March, 2022

Jean Launois

Orientalism · 20th Century Art · Biographies

Orientalist art, popular in Western World, despite its appeal, gradually declined by the early 1900s. The style of academic painting associated with it appeared outdated, as new trends like Tonalism, the Aesthetic style, Impressionism, and Post-Impressionism emerged. However, the passion of traveling artists was documenting their journeys to the Middle East and Asia. One of them, Jean Launois, an extremely productive artist, did more than 120 trips to French Far East and created a thousand artworks.

Jean Launois was born 22 November 1898 in Vendée, France, in a family of sub-prefect of Sables d'Olonne. From early childhood, Launois demonstrated talent in drawing. Supported by his parents, he received formal training from Charles Milcendeau and Auguste Lepere. Student of Ecole Julian, at the age of 17, Jean joined WW1. He entered cavalry artillery, saw actions on Western and Eastern Fronts, but got injured and demobilized in 1918.

That year, Jean met Léonce Benedite, the curator of the Luxembourg Palace Museum, and showed him a portfolio of sketches he had made during his military service. Benedite obtained permission from the Deputy Minister of Arts to purchase 12 drawings by Launois for 500 French francs. He also encouraged the young artist to compete for an Algerian scholarship (Bourse de l'Algerie). Jean won a grant that came with a two-year program at the Villa Abd el-Tif in Algiers, (1920–22). The life of Jean Launois took a complete turn. From that time, he devoted himself entirely to art.

“La Villa Abd El Tif: Centre D’Art Vivant En Algerie”. Article by Plaisir de France.

Creating depictions of Algeria, Launois became friends with the orientalist Étienne Dinet as well as with most of the painters and poets of the school of Algiers, including Étienne Bouchaud, Jean-Désiré Bascoulès, Léon Cauvy and Marcel Bouviolle. He also met Albert Marquet there who noted about Launois: "He has everything going for him: an extraordinary sureness of hand and the gift of colors". Marquet influenced the artist's style, which would now be defined by more freedom of expression. After a stay in Southeast Asia, Launois exhibited his works for the first time in Paris, well received by critics.

Jean Launois became one of the driving forces behind the Saint-Jean-de-Monts group, which brought together two generations of artists from 1892 to 1950. He mainly painted the Casbah, Berbers, Kabyles, ritual ceremonies, or even oriental landscapes. Launois especially liked to represent the little people, the popular places and the "reserved areas" of the Casbah. Many of his artworks were published in the book “Voyage a la Kasba” by Gabriel Audisio, a well-known French poet and narrator of Orientalism.

“Voyage a la Kasba” by Gabriel Audisio. 1953. Fragments. Image source: www.drouot.com.

In 1923, Launois received the Indochina Prize (Le Prix de l'Indochine) of 3,000 francs. He well documented this travel in letters home: he crossed the Indochinese peninsula, sailed down the Mekong River on a Lao prince's private raft, and made the round trip from Hanoi to China. During his travels, Launois painted the indigenous people of the forest and life in villages and bars.

The happiness of the artist, who was splitting his time between France, Morocco and Algeria, was again replaced by depression. By 1933 and the collapse of the economy, Launois was forced to trade paintings in exchange for his life. His relatives had to sell their apartment in Paris.

During WWII, despite his failing health, Launois was again mobilized and returned unrecognizable. He decided to go to Algiers, where he tried to survive on the generosity of his friends. He had intended to illustrate “Noces et le Minotaure ou la halte d’Oran” by Albert Camus. Passing through Algiers, on November 27, 1942, he died alone in a shabby hotel on rue de Chartres, unable to carry out this work.

Jean Launois, whose art was dedicated and influenced to Algeria, wrote in his diaries shortly before his death:

“The Africa where I live is so amazing for an eye that knows how to observe. Everything is new there, as in Lautrec's painting, new, charming, and lively. Most painters, unlike photographers, no longer know how to observe: they are too preoccupied with detail to embrace the whole or surprise it. The eye eats the head, said Ingres. But the head must not eat the eye. Seeing new every time, without preconceived ideas, without memories; separate sensibility from intelligence during this brief struggle that they engage in during a first vision”.
«L’Afrique où je vis, est si étonnante pour un œil qui sait observer. Tout y est neuf, comme dans la peinture de Lautrec, neuf, charmant et vif. La plupart des peintres, à rebours des photographes, ne savent plus observer: ils sont trop préoccupés du détail pour étreindre l’ensemble ou le surprenant. L’œil mange la tête, disait Ingres. Mais il ne faut pas que la tête mange l’œil. Voir neuf chaque fois, sans idée préconçue, sans souvenirs ; séparer la sensibilité de l’intelligence pendant cette brève lutte qu’elles se livrent au cours d’une première vision».

SHARE THIS POST

Sign up for design inspiration, artist profiles and our weekly overview of new editions...