Louise Janet

For Jeanne Damas, the Rencontres en Rouje make space for intimate conversations, create room for talents that inspire her, and give a voice to the women she is surrounded by. This week, she is with the painter Louise Janet, in her atelier.

Jeanne :

Thank you for having us in your atelier. This is the first time we meet, but we already share something as one of your paintings is hanging on my bedroom walls. I love when there is this sense of intimacy in paintings and photographs, which is something noticeable throughout your entire work. It looks like you know the people you portray?

Louise :

Yes, your painting is a portrait of my boyfriend! I met him at the Beaux-arts (an art college in Paris). It’s something that comes to me naturally: in school, I was already drawing a lot of things that were in front of my eyes, including people around me. Painting the people I love is very present in my work today. People can recognize the figures I paint from one artwork to another, they become archetypes.

Jeanne :

You also produce a lot of small formats, do you do it on purpose?

Louise :

Last year, I observed a lot of Dutch paintings, including Vermeer’s: there were very small pieces, full of details. I liked the idea of a painting framed by curtains, painted with avidity. A small format pushes you to be concise, straight to the point, with some kind of simplicity.

“There were very small pieces, full of details. I liked the idea of a painting framed by curtains, painted with avidity.”

Jeanne :

You always knew you wanted to be a painter?

Louise :

I always drew, but I have been through many different phases. Before arriving at the Beaux-arts, I thought about art deco (design), illustration, cartoons. But here, I enjoy the freedom and autonomy given to the students. It’s what I needed after high school! It almost got me dizzy at the beginning, I felt like I wasn’t studying. In the end, teaching is empirical, informal: we discuss what we do, we learn in workshops, with older students. And once we become the school’s seniors, we bring different things to the younger ones. Other structures could get inspiration from that, it’s one of the best ways to learn.

Jeanne :

It’s always more instructive to learn by discovering. It also encourages sharing ideas and creations. What are your current inspirations?

Louise :

Cinema and literature are what brought me to painting. I love the way the French New Wave - Rohmer, Pialat… - speaks of daily matters, for example, by being extremely chatty! I also read a lot and believe that words can make images appear. In contemporary arts, I love Nathanaelle Herbelin. She follows her desires with humanity and simplicity. It’s simple, beautiful, and universal.

Jeanne :

Talking of Nathanaelle, I’ve also been to a lot of feminine exhibitions lately. Do you feel a new generation of female painters is on the rise?

Louise :

Yes, it’s on its way. It’s a cause I’ve been aware of for a long time, thanks to my mother who is a curator at the Orsay museum. She organised an exhibition dedicated to female painters years ago and wrote a book about this issue, a role model for me growing up. But society as a whole talks about it more now than before, and I feel it’s the right time for me to be here! Also because figurative painting is in the galleries’ spotlight again, which wasn’t the case a few years ago.

“It’s so much more interesting to move away from gendered behaviours.”

Jeanne :

I also love that in my painting, you painted your lover and not the other way around. The man is the muse and the woman is the creator!

Louise :

Exactly, I also love painting him in situations that are not stereotypically masculine, like when he’s asleep and vulnerable. It’s so much more interesting to move away from gendered behaviours. But he is a painter too, his name is Nicolas Gaume, you want to check out his work!

“C’est tellement plus intéressant de s’éloigner des attitudes genrées.”

Jeanne :

I will! And what are your next projects?

Louise :

I will graduate at the end of the year, and then I have an exhibition in the Mathilde le Coz gallery in the 3rd arrondissement. It’s my first solo exhibition. I also applied to the Crous gallery with two friends, and our proposal was accepted.

Jeanne :

How do you start a painting, do you have rules, a specific ritual, or not at all?

Louise :

I put my canvas on the stretcher and start creating a colour. I use oil paint, to obtain a greater scale of nuances. I also have to wait for the oil to dry, so a painting can take a few days. I work on different paintings at the same time. I start with a sketch to study the frame. Here, for example, it’s a bit of a special case: my cat died in front of my brother’s bedroom a few weeks ago and I took a picture at that moment, to paint the scene afterwards. Otherwise, I use drawings.

Jeanne :

Would you say a recurrent theme comes up in your paintings?

Louise :

I work with visuals I like, of people close to me, my family. I am obsessed with the idea of keeping traces of things, people I love, and it’s one of the many powers of paintings or photographs. Saving the memory of passing moments.