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Jean Charlot was born in Paris in 1898. His father was a Russian-born businessman and Bolshevik sympathizer. His mother was an artist of Mexican descent. This Mexican ancestry influenced Charlot's works. He started his studies in art in Paris; however, he spent an extensive period of his life in Mexico, where he finally settled in 1921. While in Mexico, he published books and articles on Mexican art and culture, and produced paintings, graphics and murals with national themes. During this period he completed the first monumental fresco and was a pioneer of the Mexican Mural Renaissance.
In 1928, Charlot moved to New York to continue his work in painting, prints, murals, and book illustration. He also taught art, helped out in museums, and published art criticism and history. Charlot moved again in 1949 to Hawaii after being asked to create a fresco at the University of Hawaii. He then taught as a professor of art at the University and lived in Hawaii until his death. Here he became immersed in Hawaiian culture while still learning about Mexican, Western, and Asian religious and historical perspectives. Charlot was surrounded by many languages and cultures growing up: French, Spanish, Russian, Jewish, and Aztec. This helped him hold on to his roots while studying Hawaiian culture and language. While in Hawaii he produced six hundred easel paintings, many hundred prints, and thirty-six works of fresco art in public places.
Towards the end of Charlot's life, he retired from the University of Hawaii as Senior Professor Emeritus in 1966. He traveled for a second time to France and produced many lithographs. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1974 and was wheelchair-ridden, but still produced art until he died on March 20, 1979.
BIOGRAPHY
Early Life
Main Career
End of Life
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