SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Born in Les Sables-d’Olonne in 1898, Jean Launois was a French painter and illustrator whose work was closely connected with Algiers. He depicted, among others, the inhabitants and neighbourhoods of the Casbah, and returned regularly to the city. His meeting with Albert Marquet in Algeria in 1920 is presented as a turning point: the biographical note associates this exchange with greater freedom of expression in his subsequent work.
In western France, Launois was one of the leading members of the Saint-Jean-de-Monts group, where he was associated with, among others, Henry Simon. His practice also included illustration and printmaking: he made colour etchings and drawings for Sur la route mandarine by Roland Dorgelès, published in 1929, and his work is also recorded for Le Journal d’une femme de chambre by Octave Mirbeau, published in 1935. In 1928, he contributed, alongside Armand Assus, Marius de Buzon and Omer Ben Smaïa, to Albert Trust’s book Les Sirénéennes.
The notice records his participation in the Galerie Van Leer in Paris in 1926, followed by the Exposition coloniale internationale in 1931. In 1947, Jean Alazard devoted a retrospective exhibition to him at the Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Alger. Several works are recorded in public collections: Famille de gitans, Farniente, Famille juive and Jeunes Arabes at the Musée national des Beaux-Arts d’Alger; Mozabite and Les Deux Sœurs d’El-Oued at the Musée national d’Art moderne de Paris; Jeune femme à la Casbah and Cinq femmes à Laghouat at the Musée Sainte-Croix des Sables-d’Olonne.
This profile brings together identity references for Jean Launois and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
2 references are documented at Germann, Piguet. Each record links to its source; the amounts are not a general valuation of the artist’s work.
Pastel
Trois femmes, orient,
pastel
Catalogue period : 2024-05-21 — 2024-06-05
Published result : 700 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 600–800
View the lot at the auction house ↗
Gouache.
Le manucure, um 1930
Gouache.
Date to be documented
Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
Documentation updated : 2026-10-19
