Jean Lombard French, 1895-1983

Jean Lombard was born in Dijon in 1895, and from 1913 studied art at the École des Beaux-Arts in Lyon. His studies were interrupted by World War I, in which he served as part of the artillery corps, subsequently being invalided into the auxiliary service. After the Armistice, he continued his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He married a fellow art student from Lyon, and they both became art teachers in Paris whilst he simultaneously concentrated on his own painting and exhibiting in Paris.

During the Second World War, Jean Lombard led a group of young artists who met weekly in the Rue du Vert-Bois in Paris, known as the "Groupe du Vert-Bois." Between 1955 and 1957, the Groupe held exhibitions firstly at the Galerie Breteau and subsequently at the Galerie Marcel Bernheim in Paris, with extensive press coverage and critical acclaim. One of his illustrious fellow members was Othello Radou.

After the War, Jean Lombard and his wife spent lengthy periods in Valcros in Provence where he created both a studio and a salon for artists and academics, who were frequent visitors.

Jean Lombard had eighteen solo exhibitions between 1930 and 1976 in France (mainly in Paris), and four retrospective exhibitions after his death. He also exhibited in numerous group exhibitions between 1921 and 1972, including the Salon d'Automne, Salon des Indépendants, Salon de Mai, and the Salon des Réalitiés Nouvelles. There are examples of his work both in permanent museum collections in France and internationally.

Jean Lombard died in 1983.