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John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston, MA. Copyright restrictions
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston, MA. Copyright restrictions
Jean Eve
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston, MA. Copyright restrictions
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Jean Eve

French, 1900-1968
Place of BirthSomain, France
Born in 1900 at Somain in the the north of France, Jean Eve was a self taught painter.

Eve did his miliary service in Syria. On his return to France he found employment as an industrial draughtsman, then as a book-keeper in a foundry and finally as a mechanic in an automobile factory near Paris. In 1924 he saw the Courbet exhibition in Paris. "It hit me so hard," he says, "that it awoke in me a need to paint in earnest, to remake what I saw."

In 1928, Eve made the acquaintance of Kisling, to whom he had been drawn by a book of Jacques Gueene's. From that time on people began to take notice of him and exhibitions of his work were held. His work has been sold through auction at Christies.