American artist Jules Guerin was born in St Louis, Missouri on November 18, 1866. At the age of 14 he went to Chicago to study art. While studying he supported himself painting scenery backdrops and fire curtains for theaters. After Chicago Jules Guerin moved to Paris, where he continued studying art. Traveling throughout Europe, he began illustrating books, painting exotic places and people living there. Jules Guerin worked in watercolor, gouache, and tempera, usually on colored board. He successfully exhibited his paintings in the Paris Exposition of 1900, Pan American Exposition in 1901, the Lewis and Clark Exposition, 1905.

In 1901 Jules Guerin illustrated the book ‘The Mystery of Orcival’ and ‘Notes of Travel. He was a frequent contributor to Scribner’s Magazine and Century Magazine from 1901 to 1909. His travelings inspired him to create illustrations for popular books “Egypt and Its Monuments” (1908), “The Holy Land” (1910), “The Near East” – Dalmatia, Greece and Constantinople (1913). The superb color lithography in these books has made them highly collectible today.

Throughout the 1920s, Guerin created murals for banks, railroad terminals, and government buildings. The most prominent example of his mural painting is found at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC. He designed and painted two large murals flanking Daniel French’s famous seated sculpture of Abraham Lincoln.

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