Jim Sévellec (1897 - 1971)

Eugène Sévellec, known as Jim Sévellec, was born and raised in Camaret-sur-Mer, the son of a state sailor. Two elements favoured his artistic vocation: his father who encouraged him in the freedom of his aesthetic expression, and Camaret which was then a place of confluence of artists of various horizons. We can mention the writer Saint-Pol-Roux but also in the pictorial field Charles Cottet, Robert Antral. At a very young age he drew the life of the port and under the influence of Saint-Pol-Roux he left for Paris to follow an artistic training with Louis-Marie Désiré-Lucas.

During the First World War, he was mobilised in 1916 in the infantry and served, among other things, as an interpreter for American and Scottish soldiers. His companions gave him his artist's name "Jim", which was easier to pronounce than Eugène. When he was released from his military obligations, he attended the PTT school and at the same time frequented Parisian artistic circles. In 1924 he was appointed to the surveillance of the submarine cables in Brest, this was the return to his country and the beginning of a rich and abundant artistic activity.

With friends, he created an artistic group called "La phalange bretonne" and exhibited at the Saluden Gallery in Brest. Well established in the local artistic life, he is a teacher at the Brest School of Fine Arts without ceasing his activity at the PTT. Jim Sévellec began his collaboration in 1928 with the Manufacture Henriot in Quimper. From this date onwards, without ever ceasing to paint, Jim Sévellec gave numerous models to the Henriot publishing house. In 1936, at the same time as René-Yves Creston, he was appointed painter of the Navy. For the Tanguy Tower Museum, he recreated the past of the city of Brest through dioramas. He was also responsible for several decorative ensembles for hotel-restaurants in Brest, Camaret and Dinard.