Morin-Jean (1877-1940), A Corner of the Studio, 1919, oil on wood

  
Morin-Jean was originally from Montmartre. He completed part of his studies at the Lycée Condorcet.

He entered the studio of the painter Paul-Joseph Blanc. At his parents’ urging, however, he had to go work in his father’s insurance office, as his father was also a collector. He stayed there only a short time and then turned to archaeology. He attended classes at the École du Louvre.

He took part in Édouard Fourdrignier’s discovery of a chariot burial at Gorge-Meillet. He published The Drawing of Animals in Greece from Painted Vases in 1911, Glassware in Gaul under the Roman Empire in 1912, and Prehistoric Artists in 1933. From 1911 onward, he gradually devoted himself to painting and engraving, encouraged by his friend Maxime Maufra and with the help of Eugène Delâtre. He practiced intaglio engraving and wood engraving. In 1920 he became a member of the Society of Original Wood Engraving. He produced views of Breton ports, still lifes, and color engravings after 1935. He wrote a Practical Manual of the Wood Engraver in 1926. After the First World War, Moreau exhibited engravings and paintings on several occasions, notably at the Durand-Ruel gallery. He illustrated 13 poetry books by René Druart, published in the Le Livre de demain collection, as well as magazines.

He also wrote about art. Open-minded, he took an interest for a time in Cubism. In 1933 he was assigned by the Directorate of National Museums to Fontainebleau, where he was appointed assistant curator of the museum until 1939.

He engraved several series on trades, saints, bouquets of flowers, and landscapes of the Ardennes. He lived at 23 Avenue des Martyrs in Nantes. When he died, he was buried two days later in La Bouteillerie Cemetery.