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Tinguely, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Tinguely, Jean zhäN tăNglēˈ [key], 1925–91, Swiss artist. Tinguely is best known for his “metamechanics,” electromechanical sculptures that perform tasks such as painting or playing music. M...

Toomer, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Toomer, Jean, 1894–1967, American writer, b. Washington, D.C., as Nathan Eugene Toomer. A major figure of the Harlem Renaissance, he is known mainly for Cane (1923, rev. ed. 1988, 2011), a collectio...

Balue, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Balue, Jean zhäN bälüˈ [key], c.1421–1491, French statesman, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. A trusted adviser of the French king Louis XI, he saved Paris for the king during the revolt o...

Renart, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Renart, Jean zhäN rənärˈ [key], fl. 1212, French poet. He is believed to be the author of two charming romans courtois, or metrical romances—Guillaume de Dole and L'Escoufle [the hawk] as well a...

Renoir, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Renoir, Jean zhäN rənwärˈ [key], 1894–1979, French film director and writer, b. Paris; son of Pierre Auguste Renoir. He made his first film in 1926. Gathering around him a devoted coterie of act...

Racine, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Racine, Jean zhäN räsēnˈ [key], 1639–99, French dramatist. Racine is the prime exemplar of French classicism. The nobility of his Alexandrine verse, the simplicity of his diction, the psychologi...

Pucelle, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Pucelle, Jean zhäN püsĕlˈ [key], c.1300–1355, French manuscript illuminator. Master of a celebrated workshop in Paris during the 1320s, Pucelle produced a masterpiece of illumination and a styli...

Rhys, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Rhys, Jean rēs [key], pseud. of Ella Gwendoline Rees Williams, 1894–1979, English novelist, b. Dominica. Her novels written in the 1930s mercilessly exploit her own emotional life, depicting pretty...

Ribaut, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Ribaut or Ribault, Jean both: zhäN rēbōˈ [key], c.1520–65, French mariner and colonizer in Florida, b. Dieppe. When Gaspard de Coligny decided to plant a French colony as an asylum for Huguenots...

Nouvel, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Nouvel, Jean zhäN no͞ovĕlˈ [key], 1945–, French architect, grad. École des Beaux-Arts, Paris (1971). He opened his own firm in 1975, and became known for innovative techniques, the use of moder...