Charlot, Jean, 1898-1979

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Jean Charlot was an artist, teacher, scholar, critic, poet, and playwright. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and served in the French Army from 1918 to 1920. After the war he moved to Mexico, where he had relatives, and joined a group of other young artists in the Mexican Mural Renaissance of the 1920s. Charlot's fresco mural in the Preparatoria Nacional was the first of many he completed. While in Mexico, he wrote numerous articles on art, among them the first on the Mexican printmaker Jose Guadalupe Posada, and worked as an archeologist and illustrator with the Carnegie expedition to Chichen Itza. In the 1930s, Charlot lived and worked in New York, also spending time in California and Iowa. During the 1940s, he worked in Georgia, Mexico and Colorado. In 1949, he was invited by the University of Hawaii to paint a mural. He remained there as Professor of art, traveling extensively in the United States, the Pacific, and Asia. He died in Honolulu in 1979, at the age of 81.

As an artist, Charlot's international reputation rests on his more than sixty murals in the United States and Mexico and on his more than 700 prints. His paintings, drawings and numerous illustrated books are also widely known and admired. His high standing as a scholar and historian of art is largely independent of his own painting. He is the author of some twenty five books on art, including the definitive studies of the Mexican Mural Renaissance, the Academy of San Carlos, and, as co-author, the Temple of the Warriors at Chichen Itza. He also authored a large number of scholarly and popular articles on numerous aspects of the arts.

His output of drawings, paintings, murals, prints, cartoons, books, articles, and other writings was prodigious. His life was full of significant connections within the intellectual and political milieu of the diverse communities where he lived — with artists and writers, with art and educational institutions, with the Roman Catholic Church, with indigenous and working people. With his wife, Zohmah Day Charlot (1909-2000), he nurtured students and friendships, maintained links lasting many years, and with his fine sense of history preserved many tangible records of his experience. He observed events and people precisely and wrote succinctly.

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Charlot, Jean, 1898- : [miscellaneous ephemeral material]. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Thomas J. Watson Library
referencedIn Bethers, Ray, 1902-. Ray Bethers papers, 1949-1950. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
referencedIn Albert Duveen art reference files Archives of American Art
referencedIn Kistler, Lynton R. Correspondence with Carl Zigrosser, 1939-1967. University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library
referencedIn Ohio State University. Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. Jean Charlot 1898-1979 biographical file. Ohio State University Libraries
referencedIn Stendahl Art Galleries records Archives of American Art
referencedIn Charlot, Jean : Biographical file. Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
creatorOf Jean Charlot papers Archives of American Art
creatorOf Charlot, Jean, 1898-1979. Publications, catalogs, clipping and notes, 1973-1989. Stanford University. Department of Special Collections and University Archives
creatorOf Max Weber papers Archives of American Art
creatorOf Charlot, Jean, 1898-1979. Charlot, Jean letters, 1944.
creatorOf Jean Charlot Papers, 1960-1962 Syracuse University. Library. Special Collections Research Center
creatorOf Charlot, Jean. [Jean Charlot] : artist file John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art Library, Ringling Museum Library
referencedIn Theatre Arts Monthly, collection of photographs of set designs, ca. 1924-1949. Harvard Theater Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University
creatorOf Jean Charlot Papers, 1931-1980 University of Minnesota Libraries Children's Literature Research Collections
creatorOf Orozco, José Clemente, 1883-1949. Letters to Jean Charlot, 1925-1943. Getty Research Institute
creatorOf Frankforter, Katherine. Class notes from Black Mountain College, 1942-1945. Getty Research Institute
creatorOf Charlot, Henri, 1898-. Henri Charlot letter to unidentified recipient [manuscript] 1917 February 24. University of Virginia. Library
creatorOf Binsfeld, Edmund L. (Edmund Louis), 1905-1985. Papers, [ca. 1920-1950s]. University of Notre Dame, Hesburgh Library
creatorOf Charlot, Jean, 1898-. Artist file : miscellaneous uncataloged material. Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)
referencedIn Charlot, Jean. [Jean Charlot] : artist file John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art Library, Ringling Museum Library
creatorOf Charlot, Jean. Correspondence with Carl Zigrosser, 1938-1956. University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library
creatorOf Charlot, Jean, 1898-. Jean Charlot : artist file : study photographs and reproductions of works of art with accompanying documentation 1930?-1990 [graphic] [compiled by staff of The Museum of Modern Art, New York]. Frick Art Reference Library of The Frick Collection
referencedIn Claudel, Paul, 1868-1955. ALS, 1930 April 27 : Washington, D.C., to S.J. Woolf. Copley Press, J S Copley Library
creatorOf Jean Charlot Collection University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hamilton Library
creatorOf Charlot, Jean, 1898-. Papers, 1952-1977. University of Southern Mississippi, Regional Campus, Joseph Anderson Cook Library
creatorOf Lynton Kistler and Jean Charlot papers Archives of American Art
referencedIn Howard Norton Cook Papers, 1866-1979 Syracuse University. Library. Special Collections Research Center
creatorOf Morse, John D., 1906-. Ben Shahn / by John D. Morse and Jean Charlot. Rutgers University
creatorOf Luce, Maximilien, 1858-1941. Letters, sketches and exhibition catalogues, 1899-1930. Getty Research Institute
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Oral history interview with Jean Charlot Archives of American Art

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Connection Graph Radial Graph
Relation Name
acquaintanceOf Albers, Josef, 1888-1976 person
associatedWith Baciu, Mira. person
associatedWith Bethers, Ray, 1902- person
associatedWith Binsfeld, Edmund L. (Edmund Louis), 1905-1985. person
associatedWith Bishop, Claire Huchet. person
associatedWith Brenner, Anita, 1905- person
associatedWith Brown, Margaret Wise, 1910-1952. person
associatedWith Bulla, Clyde Robert. person
associatedWith Charlot, Jean person
biological parent of Charlot, John, 1941-2022 person
biological parent of Charlot, Martin person
biological parent of Charlot, Peter person
spouseOf Charlot, Zohmah. person
associatedWith Claudel, Paul, 1868-1955. person
associatedWith Cook, Howard Norton, 1901-1980 person
associatedWith Cumming, Forrest, Mrs. person
associatedWith Duveen, Albert. person
associatedWith Estampa Mexicana corporateBody
associatedWith Ferrer, Melchor G. person
associatedWith Frankforter, Katherine. person
associatedWith Hendrickson, Paul. person
associatedWith Hollis, Alice, person
associatedWith Houghton Library. corporateBody
associatedWith Hunt, Marigold. person
acquaintanceOf Jiménez, Doña Luz, 1897-1965 person
associatedWith Keener, Joseph A. person
associatedWith Kistler, Lynton R., 1897-1993. person
associatedWith Krumgold, Joseph, 1908-1980. person
associatedWith Lesley, Miriam L. person
associatedWith Luce, Maximilien, 1858-1941. person
associatedWith Martinez del Rio, Amelia person
associatedWith Morse, John D., 1906- person
associatedWith Morse, Peter. person
associatedWith Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.) corporateBody
associatedWith Orozco, José Clemente, 1883-1949. person
associatedWith Parish, Helen Rand. person
associatedWith Posada, José Guadalupe, 1852-1913. person
associatedWith Rhoads, Dorothy person
associatedWith Rivera, Diego, 1886-1957 person
associatedWith Roberts, James, Brother. person
associatedWith Schlein, Miriam. person
associatedWith Shannon, Monica person
acquaintanceOf Siqueiros, David Alfaro person
associatedWith Stendahl Art Galleries. corporateBody
associatedWith Syracuse University. corporateBody
associatedWith Taller de Gráfica Popular (Mexico City, Mexico) corporateBody
associatedWith The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art Library. corporateBody
associatedWith Tyman, Loretta Marie, 1913- person
associatedWith University of Georgia. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Georgia. Press corporateBody
employeeOf University of Hawaii at Manoa corporateBody
associatedWith Weber, Max, 1881-1961. person
associatedWith Zalce, Alfredo, 1908- person
Place Name Admin Code Country
North Carolina NC US
Republic of Fiji 00 FJ
Iowa IA US
New York NY US
Yucatán 20 MX
Honolulu HI US
Mexico City 09 MX
Los Angeles CA US
Colorado Springs CO US
Paris A8 FR
Athens GA US
Subject
Art, American
Animation (Cinematography)
Art criticism 20th century
Arts, French
Aztecs
Caricatures and cartoons
Children's literature
Illustrators
Indians of Mexico
Mexican Muralist (movement)
Modernism (Art)
Mothers
Mural painting and decoration, American
Plays
Religious art
Stations of the Cross
World War, 1914-1918
Occupation
Archaeologists
Art historians
Artists
Art Professor
Designer
Editorial cartoonists
Illustrators
Muralists
Painter
Playwrights
Poets
Printmakers
Sculptors
Activity

Person

Birth 1898-02-08

Death 1979-03-20

Male

French,

Americans

Spanish; Castilian,

Nahuatl languages,

French,

English,

Hawaiian

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