Japanese Woodblock Print, 1939, published by Jacoulet, pencil signed and sealed in the image area

SIZE IN INCHES: dai-oban, 14 x 18.5 inches

PAUL JACOULET (1896–1960) was a French, Japan-based woodblock print artist known for a style that mixed the traditional ukiyo-e style and techniques developed by the artist himself.

Jacoulet was born in Paris in 1896 and lived in Japan for most of his life. During World War II, he moved to Karuizawa, where he survived in the countryside by growing vegetables and raising poultry. During the occupation, at the request of General Douglas MacArthur, he was recruited by Commandant Charles McDowell to work at the Tokyo Army College. MacArthur would join Greta Garbo, Pope Pius XII and Queen Elizabeth II, as a prominent collector of Jacoulet's work.

Jacoulet's creative period was 1939-1960. Jacoulet is considered one of the few western artists to have mastered the art of woodblock printing sufficiently to be recognized in Japan. His works are almost all of people, either portraits or full body images capturing some background details. He has had a number of exhibits in the years since his death including two at the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena (1983 and 1990), the Yokohama Art Museum (1996 and 2003), the Riccar Museum in Tokyo (1982), and the Isla Center for the Arts on Guam (1992 and 2006).

Jacoulet's works are also interesting to anthropologists because his subject matter was indigenous people in their traditional dress. In 1939 traditional people were still the norm in his travels. Today his work is often used as a basis for reconstructing, for example, what Ainu traditional dress looked like by the Ainu themselves in their quest to reconnect with their cultural roots.

Good, with flaws as shown