Jean Charlot

JEAN CHARLOT (1898 - 1979): Jean Charlot was a French-born American painter, muralist, printmaker, illustrator, educator, and art historian whose career played an important role in the development of modern Mexican muralism. Born in Paris, Charlot moved to Mexico City in 1921, where he became part of the vibrant post-Revolutionary art movement and worked alongside artists including Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. His interest in Indigenous Mexican culture and pre-Columbian art became central to his work, and his 1923 fresco is considered an important early work of the Mexican mural movement. From 1926 to 1928, he served as artist for the Carnegie Institution's archaeological expedition to Chichén Itzá, producing lithographs and documenting Maya art and architecture. Charlot later taught at institutions throughout the United States and, beginning in 1949, spent the remainder of his career at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where he created murals and taught art. He received Guggenheim Fellowships for his research on Mexican muralism and authored , while his own art encompassed paintings, frescoes, prints, illustrations, sculpture, and mosaics. His work is held in major collections including the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.