Jean Xceron began formal art studies

at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C., from 1910 to 1917. He relocated to New York City in 1920, where he studied with Joaquin Torres-García. By 1927 Xceron had moved to Paris, where he immersed himself in abstract art through direct contact with a number of Europe’s major abstractionists including Jean Arp, Albert Gleizes, Jean Hélion, Wassily Kandinsky, Fernand Léger, Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg, among others. With an exhibition of his work in 1931 at the prestigious Galerie de France, Xceron made a name for himself among Parisian art circles, which served him well upon his return to the United States in late 1937.

Xceron’s move back to New York coincided with the development of the “second wave” of abstract art in America. The American Abstract Artists (AAA) was formed in 1936, and the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, containing the Solomon R. Guggenheim Collection, opened in 1939. Xceron was eagerly embraced by the artists within AAA for his firsthand knowledge of European abstraction. Hilla Rebay, Solomon Guggenheim’s art adviser and the founding director of his museum, quickly purchased several Xceron paintings for Guggenheim’s collection and hired the artist to work as an artist/curator at the museum, a position he held until his death in 1967.

Works by Jean Xceron may be found in the following museums:

Carnegie Institute

Jonson Gallery of University of New Mexico

Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts

Neuberger Museum of Art Smithsonian American Art Museum

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

The Newark Museum

Whitney Museum of American Art