Dongen, Jean van

First name: 
Jean
Initials: 
J.L.M.
Prefix: 
van
Surname: 
Dongen
Year of birth: 
1883
Birthplace: 
Delfshaven / Rotterdam
Country of birth: 
The Netherlands
Working period: 
1920
Year of death: 
1970
CV: 

Johan Leonardus Maria (Jean) van Dongen (NL/FR) is born in Delfshaven near Rotterdam on August 11, 1883. Jean is the youngest brother of Kees van Dongen, the painter. After studies in architecture he arrived in Paris in 1904 and moves in with his brother Kees in Montmartre. They attend the cabaret "in the Agile rabbit" and Jean meets the singer Marie Louise Esnault. During the first world war the couple is refugee in Rotterdam in the Netherlands where they married on April 28, 1915. The couple returned to France late 1919 and moved early 1920 to Marly-le-Roi.
He is active in France and especially in Marly-le-Roi where he has his studio and his kiln. He lives in 15 Station Avenue, where he is the neighbor of Aristide Maillol whom he met in 1922 and became the practitioner and friend. For the exhibition of decorative arts in 1925 he created for the couturier Paul Poiret a 90 cm sitting white dog. Jean died in Marly-le-Roi in 1970.

Pictures: Jean van Dongen, vase in terra and engobes (source Mutual Art); Jean van Dongen, vase in terra with geometric engobe decoration (photo Clément Lacaton); baluster vase with geometric lines with fish and birds (source Clément Lacaton); incised signature; painted signature, assumed to be Jean van Dongen's mark (photo Clément Lacaton).