Alexandre Jacob     (1876 – 1972)

Alexandre Jacob was born in Paris on 14th August 1876.  He was a landscape painter and exhibited from 1899 in the various French Salons.  In the year of 1908 he received the first prize of the Salon des Artistes Francais, in 1911 he was honoured with the Raigecourt-Goyon Prize, in 1914 he received the Gold Medal of the Societe des Artistes Francais, 1931 the Meurad Prize of the Institute Francais, in 1934 it was the Honourable Medal of the Arnieres Exhibition, the Gold Medal of the Societe d’art, Sciences, Lettres that he received and in 1937 he had the Gold Medal of the Paris International Exhibition.  At the exhibition in Bois Colombes (Seine) in 1948 he was again awarded with an Honourable Medal.

From 1914 Jacob was an officer of the L'Instruction Publique, and from 1957 Knight of the Honourable Legion.  Further to this he was a member of the Societe des Artistes Francais, the  French Watercolour Society,  the Fine Arts Society of Lagny, the Federation of Artists,  and the Society of French Landscape Painters. He was Vice-President of two of these Societies and an active member on the Committees of several.

He exhibited in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Rome, Antwerp, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, St Louis, Boston, Toronto, Liege, Stockholm, Anvers, London and Bristol and paintings of his are in the permanent collections of the French Republic, the City of Paris and the General Council of the Seine. Many of his paintings are to be seen today in large exhibitions outside France, South America, the United States, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and England.

Jacob's work is extremely popular on both sides of the Channel.  He has been recognised for his wonderful atmospheric paintings of quiet backwaters of the Seine and slowly moving rivers, often seen in the serenity of the early morning or in the afterglow of the setting sun.  He studied these beautiful aspects of nature most profoundly and achieved a technique which is entirely individual.

Alexandre Jacob died in 1972.