Edmond François Aman-Jean (1858–1936)

Edmond François Aman-Jean was a French symbolist painter, who co-founded the Salon des Tuileries in 1923. Aman-Jean established his reputation primarily for his portraits, especially of female subjects; he was also noted for his murals in public and official buildings, including the Sorbonne.

Like many French artists of his generation, he was influenced by the new perspectives on Japanese art current in Paris in his day; more unusually, Aman-Jean was interested in the Pre-Raphaelite artists in England. Aman-Jean was a close friend of Georges Seurat; the two artists shared a Paris studio in 1879.

Art historian Robert Herbert called Seurat’s portrait of Aman-Jean, “one of the great portrait drawings of the nineteenth century”.  It was the first work Seurat showed, at the Paris Salon in 1883. Aman-Jean also associated with a range of artists and cultural figures of his era, from Ernest Laurent to Paul Verlaine. Aman-Jean also worked in lithography and printmaking and designed posters.