Jean-Marie Guislain
Special thanks to Hubert Bovens for his help finding information about Jean-Marie's life in Belgium!
Jean-Marie Guislain (sometimes known as Jean Joseph Léonard) was born on March 27, 1882, in the Belgian city of Louvain (Leuven). When he was a toddler, his family moved west to the village of Breucq, where Jean-Marie spent his childhood. As an adult he worked in France and abroad as a portrait painter and poet, describing himself as “a bit of an impressionist.” In 1913 he travelled around the United States as an itinerant portraitist, and while in Omaha he met and married his wife, Rose.
Just before World War II broke out in France, he had been working to publish his latest book of poetry, entitled Les Enfants et les Fleurs. His earlier publications included Variations sur an Air Bucolique (1923), La Cigale Éperdue, Une Transcription de Li-Taï-Peh (1925), Pan et Syrinx, Dialogue Légendair (1928), Clairieres (1929), Tropiques (1933), and Michel-Ange (1937).
He visited Vassar in October 1940, at which time a group of his watercolors were exhibited in Taylor Hall, including “Night in the Place de la Concorde,” “Mint Tea Party,” and “Morning at Marrakesh.” The picture accompanying this post, in fact, is a self-portrait of Guislain that was printed in the Vassar Miscellany paper. While he was at Vassar he was also working on a lyrical novel about Marco Polo. He later lectured at Wellesley College, in December that same year. After the war he and his wife made numerous trips back to France, but ultimately they settled in Los Angeles, where Jean-Marie's younger sister lived.
Sources:
"1913 Tornado Rescuer Dies." Omaha World Herald 19 Feb. 1969: n. pag. Print.
"Artist and Writer Is Year's First Visiting Scholar." Vassar Miscellany News 9 Oct. 1940: 1. Vassar Newspaper Archives. Web.
Barber, Mary Phillis. "Poet And Painter, Jean-Marie Guislain, Praises Artistry, Sincerity Of Villon." Vassar Miscellany News 12 Oct. 1940: 1+. Vassar Newspaper Archive. Web.
Brown, Dorothy. "10S Exhibitions." Wellesley College Archives. Wellesley College, 10 Jan. 2008. Web.
Charpentier, Octave, ed. "Jean-Marie Guislain." Poésie: Cahiers Mensuels Illustrés (1938): n. pag. Gallica. Bibliothèque Nationale De France, 3 Dec. 2008. Web. 09 Apr. 2016.
State of California. California Death Index, 1940-1997. Sacramento, CA, USA: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics.