Painter (Tunisia 1903 - Paris 1963)

Biographical Timeline & Artistic Progression of Jules Lellouche

1903 : Born in Monastir (Tunisia) to a Jewish family of modest means. He was living in the Hara, a place removed from the influence of Western culture. The self-taught future painter was never given the benefit of a classical pictorial education, with the exception of a rather stinted period at the French school of Fine Arts later in life.

1921 : Exhibits for the first time in the Tunisian Salon.

1926 : First stay in Paris after receiving a French government sponsored scholarship, where he discovers the Parisian artistic milieu and the painters of the past. This period represents his first real initiation to painting. He returns to Paris on a regular basis until 1939.

1928-33 : Travels to Morocco (exhibitions in Marrakesh and Fes) and to South Algeria (Constantine and Ghardaïa).

1933 : Exhibition of 68 paintings from Morocco and Algeria at "Petit Matin".

1934 : Relocates to Spain, where he actively continues to paint and exhibit (Madrid and Toledo).

1936 : Formation in Tunis of the "Groupe de Quatre" (Pierre Boucherle, Moses Levy, Antonio Corpora, Jules Lellouche). Exhibition held at the Galerie Art Nouveau in Tunis.

1935-39 : Lives in Paris and meets his future wife Adèle (Rubin) at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière.. He sets up at Rue Daguerre and exhibits in the Salon d'Automne, the Salon des Indépendents, and the Salon des Tuileries, where one of his nudes, noticed by Despiau, is acquired by the state. He meets and socialize with painters from the Montparnasse quarter in Paris (Kikoine, Soutine, Kremegne).

1937-38 : Birth of his children, Zaïra and David.

1940 : Conscripted into the Tunisian Army in Sfax; where he continues to paint. He settles in at La Goulette, near the canal (Little Sicily). The French nationality which he acquired in January 1938 was retracted through a Vichy decree in November 1940, as well as his wife’s and their childrens’.

1944 : Lives in La Marsa, where he stays until 1954.

1947 : Lellouche exhibits along with the "Group of 10" (among which, Moses and Nello Levy, Bocchieri Naccache, Yahia, and Farhat) which later becomes the School of Tunis.

1948 : Post-war return to Paris and exhibition at the Friedland Gallery (Tedesco).

1949 : First exhibition by the School of Tunis, among whom are Boucherle, Moses Lévy, Corpora, Farhat, and Yahia.

1950 : Stays in Venice for 4 months, on the initiative of his friend Dr Georges Valensi, a grand connoisseur; numerous paintings and exhibition in Venice (Sandri Gallery).

1953 : Exhibition in Strasbourg (Aktuaryus Gallery).

1955 : Settles in Paris at Rue de Jarente, in the Marais district. Individual and collective exhibitions (Galeries Palmes, Orfèvres, Tédesco; Salons Indépendants, Artistes Français, France d'Outre-Mer). He meets and befriends the painters Kijno, Aberlenc, Mazo and sculptors Kretz, Babin, Osouf and Charles Auffret who introduces him at the school Ecole Malebranche, where he gives classes to young artists.

1957 : Zaïra, his daughter, dies unexpectedly.

1963 : Meets Dr. Paul Gay and exhibits in Saint-Jeoire-en-Faucigny (l'Art au Village) in Switzerland and Grenoble; travels to Holland (Summer 1963).

23rd of November 1963 : Jules Lellouche dies at his home in Paris

After his death, from 1967 to 2012: Posthumous exhibitions in Paris (Katia Granoff Galleries, Vendôme, Nevers, the Salon of the Rose-Croix, Espace Taylor) as well as in Tunisia and Israel.

2012 : Creation of the website in memory of Jules Lellouche.