Jean Charlot

I just came back from a trip to Hawaii and had the privilege of taking a glimpse of the collection of Jean Charlot’s work at the University of Hawaii. Jean Charlot was a French painter, and muralist. He lived and painted in Mexico, involving himself in the Mexican muralism movement with Diego Rivera.

Roger Garcia took me to the collection (he’d been to see the collection before) and told me I would be completely inspired by it. We went to a big room on the top floor of the library and met a woman who manages the collection. She showed us old children’s books he’d illustrated, etchings, drawings, flip books, poster designs…we could have seen hours and hours more. I wish we could have gone back to see his sketchbooks, but next time. I felt like Roger let me in on this big amazing secret!

I think what inspired me the most about his work is how he could visualize colour in his process. And… he just did it ALL. Large quantities of it, too. Painting, drawing, typography, illustration, cartooning, murals, collages, children’s books… it made me think about how our minds can limit what we think we can accomplish.

I am so grateful to have had a glimpse of his work and I wish there was more I could share online. If you are very patient, you can browse through some samples of his stuff on the Jean Charlot website. If you search his name on flickr, you can see just a few samples of his children’s book work. I was able to download one piece of illustration he did for Vanity Fair, a cover:

THE JEAN CHARLOT COLLECTION
In 1981, after the death of Jean Charlot, his widow, Zohmah Charlot, donated a large archive of artworks and documents to the Hamilton Library, University of Hawaiʻi, for the use of scholars and students. This archive opened in 1983 and has since been supplemented with further works relating to Jean Charlot and to other artists. The JCC collects, documents, preserves, and makes available its resources. Scholars from the mainland, Latin America, Europe, and Asia have come to study at the JCC, and its materials have been used in numerous exhibitions and publications. The Website of the Jean Charlot Collection. Contact person: Ms. Bronwen Solyom, curator.