Jean Liberte

American (1896-1965)

Jean Liberte was an artist and art teacher. He received his art education at Cooper Union and studied under Arthur Crisp, David Karfunkle and Kenneth Hayes Miller at the Art Students League in New York City. Liberte received numerous awards as a recognized authority on the technical aspects of casein painting and commendations for his experiments in gouache. Although his first love was for the earthy works of Jean Francois Millet – he added the name “Jean” to his given name of Louis at his confirmation in memory of Millet – Liberte was also influenced by the early dark works of his teacher, Kenneth Hayes Miller, and by the great Romanticist, Albert Pinkham Ryder. In 1945, Liberte was termed a “Night Blooming Artist” by Harry Salpeter in one of his profiles of American artists for Esquire Magazine due to the fact that he loved to paint at night.

Liberte’s works are included the collections of Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Farnsworth Museum and The Tel Aviv Museum, among others.