Born in Rustchuk, Bulgaria, Elvire Jan (1904–96) was an Armenian artist of the postwar School of Paris. Before attending the Académie Julian in Paris at the age of twenty-two, she studied with Max Weber (1881–1961) at the Art Students League in New York in 1925. While her earlier works focused on figurative painting under the influence of Post-Impressionism, in 1949 Jan began to explore abstract expressions in oil and watercolor. Along with Jean René Bazaine (1904–2002), Jean Le Moal (1909–2007), Alfred Manessier (1911–93), and other artists of the School of Paris, Jan promoted the practice of non-figurative art. Her compositions are based on impressions of nature. With a sophisticated sense of rhythm and pattern, Jan excelled at creating scintillating visual effects reminiscent of light flickering and reflecting off of water and a sea of foliage. Lively washes in vibrant, sensuous colors dance freely across the surface of her abstract paintings with great speed and vivacity. This vivid color palette became more subdued in the 1970s, when Jan started to adopt a darker, monochromatic palette.

In collaboration with the artists Raoul Ubac (1910–85), Jean Bertholle (1909–96), and Bazaine, Jan also created designs for stained glass windows, including those at the Couvent des Carmes in Paris and the Saint-Dié Cathedral. Her works are held in the collections of the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Caen; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon; Musée de Metz; Musée de Tourcoing; Musée de Lund, Switzerland; Musée de Bergen, Norway; Musée de Dublin; and Musée d'Histoire et d'Art in Luxemburg.

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