Announcing the Jan Balet: The Artist & His Works Website

For those of you who don’t know much about Jan Balet, you are not alone. His fine art, much celebrated in Europe, never got the same recognition in the U.S. because here, Jan was a commercial illustrator. Those that know his work from Harper’s Bazaar, Good Housekeeping, Vogue, and Saturday Evening Post in the ‘50s and ‘60s may think that’s all there is.

And for a while, I didn’t know very much about Jan either. The big difference between you and me, however is that I am Jan’s son. For a long time, I didn’t see my father. It wasn’t until I was older that I really had a relationship with him. Through visits with him later in his life, trips to Europe after his death in 2009, and after much research, I found out much more about the artist and the man himself. I always knew, however, that he was an artist at heart since he was at his grandfather’s knee and that when he worked, he poured all of his experiences – both good and bad – into whatever he created. 

My wife Marie and I have spent several years exploring how best to introduce Jan and his expansive body of intriguing work to a broader audience. After much thought and hours of research, travel, and discussion, we are launching this blog to coincide with the introduction of janbalet.com.

We hope that you will regularly visit with us and come to enjoy my father’s sometimes whimsical, sometimes deep, but always wonderful art.

Peter Balet