Jean Hugo (19 November 1894 – 21 June 1984) was a painter, illustrator, theatre designer and author. He was born in Paris and died in his home at the Mas de Fourques, near Lunel, France. Brought up in a lively artistic environment, he began teaching himself drawing and painting and wrote essays and poetry from a very early age. His artistic career spans the 20th century, from his early sketches of the First World War, through the creative ferment of the Parisian interwar years, and up to his death in 1984. He was part of a number of artistic circles that included Jean Cocteau, Raymond Radiguet, Pablo Picasso, Georges Auric, Erik Satie, Blaise Cendrars, Marie-Laure de Noailles, Paul Eluard, Francis Poulenc, Charles Dullin, Louis Jouvet, Colette, Marcel Proust, Jacques Maritain, Max Jacob, Carl Theodor Dreyer, Marie Bell, Louise de Vilmorin, Cecil Beaton and many others.

Jean Hugo was the great-grandson of the poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France, Victor Hugo. His grandfather, Charles Hugo was a journalist, pioneer of early photographic techniques and a campaigner against the death penalty, and his father Georges Hugo was a published author and a recognised painter.

His mother, Pauline Menard-Dorian, was the daughter of Paul-Francois Menard, conseiller general and depute of the Herault department during the 1870s–80s, by his wife Aline Dorian, daughter of Pierre Frederic Dorian, minister of works during the siege of Paris.

Jean Hugo was married twice, first in 1919 to Valentine Hugo (nee Valentine Gross, no children from this marriage) and then in 1949 to Lauretta Hope-Nicholson, daughter of Hedley Hope-Nicholson. Jean Hugo and Lauretta had seven children, several of whom have gone on to establish successful careers in the arts.

Jean Hugo's half-brother Francois Hugo designed limited-edition jewellery interpretations for Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau, Max Ernst and Coco Chanel during the '20s Modern period.

Pierre Hugo – son of Francois Hugo – is also a jewellery designer and has written a book about the artistic legacy of the Hugo family, Les Hugo – Un Temoignage (Rocher, France, 2007).

Paintings
Hugo is predominantly known for his sketches and oil or gouache paintings, which are often executed in small formats. He also illustrated books, designed theatre sets and costumes and produced ceramics, murals, textile designs and stained glass windows. Hugo designed the sets and costumes for Carl Theodor Dreyer's film The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928). His paintings can be viewed at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, and are also present in collections in London, Tokyo, Toronto, Paris, Marseille, and at the Musee Fabre in Montpellier, France – where there is room dedicated to his paintings.

Quotes about Jean Hugo[edit]
Jean Cocteau: "Jean Hugo mixed his almost monstrous calm into the tumultuous enterprises of our youth. He was, and remains the very image of that perfect humility of the illuminators, for whom daily truths trumpted decorative graces. His powerful hand, his big jupiterian eye, his olypism in a way, did not use thunder but little watercolours so vast that it seemed as if their size was the result of a phenomenon of perspective. Indeed, he seems to view the sea in Brittany from a distance, and the garrigue by the big end of the telescope, which does not prevent him from evoking around us the mysterious odour of seaweed and wild herbs. Jean Hugo, subtle peasant, medieval monk, chasses the angel from the bizarre through knowing all its tricks by heart."

Gustave Thibon: "I knew him intimately. He was a strange being, admirable, a mystic, a lover, a great artist, who no doubt sinned by excess of modesty. He had been a little tired of fame by his name, which was extremely heavy. [...] Jean Hugo spent his youth in that golden world of the big families of the Third Republic, the Berthelot, the Favre, the Renan, the Daudet, a world that he moved away from for a more isolated life in Lunel. His work is far better known, and valued, in America than in France, where he still suffers a little of being eclipsed by his name. I consider him a great painter, and a great painter that is relatively unknown. If he hadn't found others to look after publicising him, he would never have sold a single painting. Picasso, who was a good friend of his, used to say to him "you do nothing for your fame". And indeed he did nothing for it – others did it to him. Once again, he was a pure being. If the word innocence could be applied to anyone it was him. He was very handsome, and of prodigious vitality – dare I say Hugolian. He was detached enough not to install himself in his own name – while still showing unconditional admiration for the work of his great ancestor, that he knew in detail." Entretiens avec Gustave Thibon by Philippe Barthelet (Editions du Rocher, Monaco, 2001)

Maurice Sachs: "Jean Hugo was calm, kind and generous. Life flowed calmly before him and we knew of no enemies of his. He carried the heavy burden of his family name with elegance. Like his father Georges Hugo he was a man of the world, a man of great distinction in heart and spirit, a kind friend, a man you would want to have in your life." La Decade de l'illusion (Paris, Gallimard, 1950 p. 14–16)

Paul Morand: "Jean Hugo's artistic temperament holds its own outside of all fashions. His work reminds us of the marvels that the relaxation of some prince of ancient times might have produced, as can be found in the tales of a thousand and one nights."