Jacques Violet - 24 Heures du Mans 1970

Jacques Violet
1936 – 2021

Originally from the Berry on his mother’s side and a Parisian on his father’s, Jacques Violet was born in Paris in 1936. He studied drawing and art history at Arts Appliqués, and specialized in ceramics, which allowed him to attend Picault’s workshop in Vallauris, and to rub shoulders with Picasso or Cocteau.
He began his career in 1955 as a painter for the Museum of Natural History and undertook several expeditions and long survey missions of rock paintings in the Sahara and the Tassili. He was a laureate, with his travel companions, of the Liotard Prize in 1960.
The desert bewitched him and left in him the imprint of the great expanses.
He continued his wanderings in Africa where he became a photographer and then a journalist.
With friends and African colleagues, they created a production company, launched newspapers and made films in different countries of Africa, notably in the Sahel.
Back in France in 1968, he became a freelance photographer and collaborated with news agencies and major magazines for which he had the opportunity to photograph many personalities, notable events, and to follow the official travels of President Pompidou.
He joined the Antenne 2 editorial team in 1981 as a grand reporter; he would leave France 2 as editor-in-chief at the dawn of the 2000s.
Retired but active, he served as secretary general of the Société des explorateurs français for many years.
Settled in Pellevoisin in the Indre, a few kilometers from his native village, brushes replace the camera; he resumes painting, notably the vast spaces of the desert and the Berry countryside so dear to his heart.