Jean Couty (st-rambert-l'île-barbe, 1907 - Lyon, 1991) - The Steam Train

This painting is currently on loan to the Musée de Bourgoin-Jallieu for the exhibition Full Steam Ahead! From Rail to Canvas, on view from August 30, 2025, to February 14, 2026.
Oil on canvas. 55 x 73 cm. Signed lower left. 

Jean Couty, born in Lyon in 1907, is a versatile artist whose career has been nourished by both his studies in architecture and his passion for painting. After eight years studying architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts in Lyon and then in Paris, Couty also worked as a painter. His work was not confined to painting, but also extended to the design of theater sets and wall decorations, enabling him to explore a wide range of forms and techniques.

Couty is particularly renowned for his depictions of familiar landscapes, ordinary workers and everyday objects, as well as for his religious subjects. Early in his career, he adopted a free, simple and traditional style, before turning to a more characteristic approach, in which he paints clearly defined shapes and uses vivid colors, applied in thick layers. This technique gives his works a vibrant texture and great visual power.

As a member of the Lyon school, he exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris from 1935 to 1940, at the Salon des Peintres Témoins de leur Temps, and at the Biennale de Menton, where he was awarded first prize in 1953. He also held numerous solo exhibitions, notably in Lyon and Paris between 1945 and 1989. His most notable retrospectives were at the Galerie Larock-Granoff in Paris in 1997 and at the Musée Paul Dini in Villefranche-sur-Saône in 2002.

Jean Couty has also received posthumous recognition. In 2017, a museum was dedicated to him in Lyon, the Musée Jean Couty, highlighting his work and its impact on art in Lyon and beyond. His work, imbued with simplicity and poetry, marked its era and continues to captivate art lovers.