Jansem, Jean

Jean Jansem, pseudonym of Ohannès Semerdjian, was a French painter of Armenian origin, born on March 9, 1920 in Seuleuze (Sölöz) near Bursa, Turkey, and died on August 27, 2013 in Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher (Loir-et-Cher). He spent his childhood in Thessaloniki, Greece, before moving to France at the age of 10, where he began painting and attended evening classes in Montparnasse. After graduating from the École des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 1938, he traveled frequently to Greece, Spain and Italy, painting and drawing from life scenes of bullfighting, processions, markets, carnivals and workshops.