Hilaire Noël Sébastien Clément, known as Clément-Janin (1862–1947) was a French writer and art critic, specializing in the modern history of
printmaking
Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...
.
Biography
His father, Michel-Hilaire Clément (1831–1885), was the author of several books on local history and traditions. Through his mother, Marie-Camille, he was related to the critic,
Jules Janin. His first literary activities involved the posthumous publication of some of his father's works, and then donating his archives to the
Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro. The name "Clément-Janin" was also originally used by his father.
In the mid-1890s, he became attracted to the
Positivist milieu, making the acquaintance of , and joining him in the process of establishing his publishing house, which was inaugurated in 1896. It was during this time that he developed an interest in engraving and the art of illustration. Later, Pelletan would entrust him to collaborate with
André Mellerio
André Mellerio (1862–1943)"Mellerio, André." ''Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online'', Oxford University Press. Retrieved 18 June 2014. was a French art critic who promoted the cause of Symbolism and "idealist" art and appeared in two p ...
in the management of his magazine, '
In 1908, he was named
curator and conservator of the modern prints department at the newly established
Bibliothèque d’Art et d’Archéologie, initiated by the fashion designer,
Jacques Doucet, who was also an art patron and collector. In 1915, he was a co-founder of "Les Amis des artistes", a mutual aid fund for artists in need.
During
World War I, in 1917, he made the first attempt to classify and organize the war's
iconography
Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...
; listing nearly 10,000 prints. After the war, in 1919, he was named a Knight in the
Legion of Honor
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
for his work.
Documentation/Archives nationales de France
@ the Base Léonore
One of his last works was the ''Essai sur la bibliophilie contemporaine'', issued in two volumes by , in 1931 and 1932.
References
External links
Biographical data and references
@ AGORHA ( Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clement-Janin, Noel
1862 births
1947 deaths
French art critics
French art curators
Writers from Dijon