Jean Veber’s paintings echo and develop many of the themes of his drawings and lithographs, revealing him as a critical observer of social bigotry and insincerity. As well as being a talented painter, he had the imagination to create thought-provoking images such as the butcher with his display of human skulls and carcasses, a female Gulliver straddling a rural landscape, and ‘Dynamis’, who sits astride the machine spewing half-naked humans.

After his death the bulk of his work was sold at auction in 1936 and 1938, and very little is to be found in public galleries, which means that his paintings are less well known than they deserve to be.

The titles of the paintings we have reproduced here are:
     La femme aux poupées (Doll Woman), 1896
     L’homme aux poupées (Doll Man), 1896
     Bataille de dames (Battle of the Women), 1897
     La boucherie (The Butcher’s Shop), 1897
     Madame Gulliver, 1897
     L’enlèvement d’Europe (Europa and the Bull), 1899
     Lutte de femmes dans le Devonshire (Fighting Devonshire Women), 1899
     Adam et Eve, 1901
     Les lutteuses (The Fighters), 1901
     Dynamis, 1902
     La fortune qui danse (Dancing Fortune), 1902
     La gifle (The Slap), 1906
     Nu au miroir (Nude with Mirror), 1912