Jean-Émile Laboureur (1877 – 1943)

A painter, printmaker and illustrator, Jean-Émile Laboureur was born in Nantes, France. He moved to Paris in order to pursue legal studies but changed direction and enrolled instead in the Académie Julian, where he studied wood engraving under Auguste Lepère; at the suggestion of his mentor Toulouse-Lautrec, Laboureur traveled widely for the next ten years, including extended stays in Dresden and in the United States. His first series of etchings was published in 1905, and he supplemented his income while in America by giving private lessons in etching.

In 1907 Laboureur returned to France, but soon thereafter moved to London, and once again back to France in 1909. His first one-man show was held in New York in 1917. Shortly thereafter, he embarked on a long and successful career as a book illustrator, with more than fifty titles to his credit. Laboureur founded the Société des Peintres-Graveurs Indépendants in 1923. He settled ultimately in Kerfahler, in Brittany, where he died.