Émile Jean Friboulet was born on November 11, 1919 in Fécamp. He is the son of Albert Friboulet and Eugénie Monnier. His father is a fisherman in Newfoundland and his mother is a postwoman. She was hospitalized shortly after his birth and his father went to Newfoundland for long periods, leaving him and his sisters at the Fécamp fishermen's orphanage for nearly 3 years. He developed a passion for drawing at a young age. He obtained his certificate of studies on June 16, 1931 and started working. He worked successively as a grocery boy, port employee, registration clerk, garage employee, and transportation company employee while continuing to practice drawing. He joined the air force in 1939. In 1940, he went to Africa with the Bourgogne group. He had a lot of free time and resumed drawing and painting. He was nicknamed Jef by the American forces because of the initials EJF on his luggage, which the Americans changed to JEF. He then met Horcholl and Harris in Bamako, who were official army painters. Recognizing Jef Friboulet's talent, his superiors appointed him as the army's photographer and painter. He then painted murals in the barracks and mess hall. His first exhibition took place in Bamako in 1942. His new status led him to meet Wurtemberg and Herr Professor Albert Schwarz, from whom he learned a lot. After the war, he returned to Fécamp where he worked as a parchment illuminator for a convent, and later became a bus driver. He married Renée Vaudin on July 12, 1944, with whom he had four children: Christian, Régis, Patrice, and Marie-Catherine. His job as a bus driver allowed him to travel through the landscapes of Pays de Caux on his bike to paint them. In 1954, he was awarded for the first time for "Le Jardinier" and exhibited for the first time in Paris. Exhibition offers and support from regional and national press led him to quit his job as a bus driver and become a professional painter. He then opened a large studio in Fécamp where he welcomed many amateur and professional painters. His son Régis died in 1964, and Jef Friboulet entered a new period of his painting inspired by mysticism and religion. He began exhibiting extensively abroad and traveled to Israel. He also painted for the churches of Fécamp and Yport and organized two exhibitions on the Bible. He also set up an association in his studio to train young painters. After living his whole life in Fécamp, he moved to Yport, a remote and isolated village where he found tranquility. He painted until the end of his life on May 13, 2003.
