Jean Carlu
The Architect of Visual Persuasion In the turbulent dawn of the twentieth century, a new language of communication was being forged, one that relied less on dense text and more on the visceral impact of shape, color, and symbol. At the forefront of this revolution stood Jean Carlu, a visionary French graphic designer whose work would become a cornerstone of modern visual branding and wartime propaganda. Born in 1900 into a family of architectural distinction—his brother Jacques Carlu was the mind behind the monumental Palais de Chaillot in Paris—Jean possessed an innate understanding of stru…
The Subject Atlas
A chart of Jean Carlu's corpus mapped not by date but by subject. Spokes are what they painted; rings are when; and the threads between stars reveal the patrons and places that secretly connect them.
Spokes — Subject
Each arm of the atlas gathers works by what they depict: portraits, sacred scenes, mythologies, and the scientific studies. Click a spoke to swing that cluster to the top.
Rings — Career Period
Distance from the center marks time. The innermost ring is the earliest period; the outermost, the final years. Style matures as you move outward.
Threads — Shared Context
Coloured lines link works bound by the same patron, commission, or theme. Trace a context to watch related clusters light up across subjects.