Louise Janin

Born 29th August 1893 in Durham, New Hampshire, United States ~ Died 26th July 1997 in Meudon, France

From 1911-14, Janin attended the San Francisco Academy of Fine Arts and the William Merritt Chase Summer School of Art. Growing up in a wealthy family, Janin was surrounded by beautiful objects including her father’s comprehensive Asian art collection. A debutante ball was given in her honour n 1912 , but for Janin art and travel were more important than high society. In 1915-16 she travelled to Asia Pacific where she became enthralled by Buddhist, Hindu and Taoist mythologies that began to inform her art. In 1921, she moved to New York and incorporated spiritual themes into several exhibitions. In 1922 Janin travelled to Europe, including Britain, before settling permanently in Paris in 1923. She established her studio at 9 Rue des Beaux Arts with her first solo show taking place at Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in 1924.

In Paris, Janin met two significant artists, František Kupka and Henry Valensi who would be a great influence in her life. She met Kupka in 1926 which quickly developed into a mutually inspiring friendship, encouraging Janin to pursue her interest in writing about art. In the late 1920’s and 30’s she published several articles in art periodicals. In 1932, at the request of Henry Valensi, she joined the musicalist movement and was a regular participant in the group’s events up to his death in the early 1960s.

At the onset of the Second World War, she took refuge at a friend’s house in Corsica, but was subsequently interned in December 1942 at the Ponte-Nouvo camp. After her liberation she remained in Corsica until February 1946 whe she received her permit to be able to return to her home in Paris. After the war, her work became increasingly abstract.

During the early 1950s Janin developed an art form which was a variation of the marbling techniques often seen in the end boards of books. She had first seen the technique in 1925 during a visit to a decorative arts exhibition in Paris. For Janin, the adoption of the technique led to years of experimentation with the overt materiality of the art making becoming imbued with the ideas of the cosmos. Janin called them her “cosmogrammes”.

“My first efforts produced aimless meanders, empty of meaning or character. So the wax solution, effecting an ‘all-over’ pattern but excluding freely pictorial design, was discarded. No fissure-making comb, other tools needed for an ‘anti-technique’, as orthodox craftsmen might call it, were droppers, atomisers, spoons, allied to some quite singular devices. A more poetic accessory, found on the beaches of Corsica, is a small bivalve shell, fixed in the joint of a split cane. And who, except for Venetian glassblowers, would imagine breath as a tool ? Yet, concentrated on a portion of the liquid on the picture surface, a well-directed puff accomplishes joining and disjoining. A needle fixed to a brush handle for picking off scoriae (accidental specks) is also a useful tool.”

For the rest of her long life Janin continued to create her rhythmic coloured compositions and the cosmogrammes, exhibiting regularly at the Salon des Independents, Salon des Femmes Peintres and Salon D’Automne. A centenary exhibition took place in 1993 at the Galerie 1900-2000 in Paris and her final show took place at the age of 103. Janin died in July 1997 at her home in Meudon.

Exhibitions:
1918 ~ Courvoisier Gallery-Boutique, San Francisco.
1921/22 ~ Exhibits at the Ehrich Gallery, New York with further exhibitions in Chicago and St. Louis.
1924 ~ Solo exhibition at Galerie Bernheim-Jeune. Group shows at Salon des Orientalistes, Galerie Georges Petit and Femmes Peintres et Sculpteurs
1925 ~ Received the Prix Paillard from the Salon at the Pavillon de Marsan and participated in five sections of the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs in Paris where she was awarded a Diplôme d’Honneur.
1927 ~ Panels for the Studium des Grands Magasins du Louvre, International Exhibition of Decorative Arts, Madrid. A group show at the Galerie Seligman.
1928 ~ Solo show at Galerie Georges Petit, Paris
1929 ~ Solo exhibitions took place at the Courvoisier Gallery, San Francisco, and the Milch Gallery, New York.
1931 ~ Group of paintings were presented at the Hindustan Pavilion as part of the Colonial Exposition at the Parc de Vincennes, Paris.
1932 ~ First Musicaliste Salon held at the Galerie de la Renaissance, 11 Rue Royale, Paris which took place from December 20th to January 19th
1934-35 ~ Second Musicalist Salon at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune and Third at the Galerie de la Renaissance.
1937 ~ A collection of work was presented at the International Exposition of Arts and Technical Industries.
1946 ~ The Musicalist movement reformed and exhibited at the first Salon des Réalités Nouvelles.
1949 ~ Solo exhibition at the Galerie Raymond Duncan, Paris. Exhibition at the Galerie Breteau, Paris.
1953 ~ Solo exhibitions at the Galerie Potterat, Avenue du theatre 8, Lausanne and Galerie Chedel, Geneva.
1954 ~ Exhibition with the sculptor Lambert-Rucki at the Galerie du Colisée, Paris. 
1955 ~ The Musicalistes leave the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles and exhibit at the Salon Comparaison.
1956 ~ “Hierogramme” is acquired by the City of Paris. It received the Grand Prize of the (A.F.A.I – International Association of Women Artists) Cannes.
1959 ~ Publication of Jean-Jacques Levêque’s book: Louise Janin. Coinciding with an exhibition at the Galerie Breteau.
1960 ~ Group exhibition at the Galerie Studio, Saint-Germain
1963 ~ Exhibition at the Musée de Lyon as part of the tribute to Valensi: “Valensi and Musicalism.”
1973 ~ Retrospective exhibition of the Musicalist salons at Galerie Hexagramme, Paris.
1974 ~ Participates in the Lugano International Salon “Pittura E Musica.”
1975 ~ Janin exhibits regularly during this period at the Salon des Indépendants, Salon d’Art Sacré, Salon des Femmes Peintres and Salon d’Automne.
1985 ~ Presents several works at the Galerie DUO, 15 Rue de Lille, Paris.
1988 ~ Retrospective at the Musée Victor Duhamel in Mantes-la-Jolie. Louise Janin receives the City Medal.
1989 ~ Participates in the “Coloniales” exhibition at the Musée de Boulogne-Billancourt
1990 ~ Qu’est-ce que le Musicalisme? “What is Musicalism?” exhibition takes place at the Galerie Drouart, Paris.
1993 ~ Solo exhibition at the Galerie 1900-2000, Marcel Fleiss, Paris. In celebration of her 100th birthday.
1996 ~ Her last exhibition: “Louise Janin – peintres musicalistes” took place from 27th September to 9th November at Galerie Patrice Trigano, Paris.
2022 ~ Several works are included in the “Creative Spirits” exhibition at The College of Psychic Studies, London Curated by Vivienne Roberts.
2025 ~ Two works included in the “Queer Modernism” Exhibition, K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf Curated by Anke Kempkes.
2026 ~ Louise Janin: The echo of the Spirit through the Rhythms of Life” at the GPS Gallery, Soho, London. Curated by Simon Grant and Vivienne Roberts.