Jean Mannheim was born in Kreuznach on the Nahe, Germany on November 18, 1863. After being drafted into the German army, Mannheim deserted and fled to France, where he studied art at the Ecole Delecluse, Academie Colarossi, and with DeLancey and Bouguereau. Upon immigrating to Illinois in the 1880's, he painted portraits in Chicago and taught in a Decatur art school. Shortly after the turn of the century, he accepted a position at Frank Brangwyn's school in London and remained there for two years. After returning to the U.S., he taught at the Denver Art School, and in 1908 made his final move to Pasadena, building a home in the Arroyo Seco. Mannheim maintained a studio in the Blanchard Building in Los Angeles, where he exhibited and taught, and in 1913 he founded the Stickney Memorial School of Fine Arts in Pasadena. In Paris his work consisted primarily of figure studies, and it was not until his move to the U.S. that he began painting the brighter landscapes for which he is nationally known. Mannheim died in Pasadena on September 6, 1945.

Member: Laguna Beach Art Association; Pasadena Fine Art Club; Long Beach Art Association; California Art Club.

Exhibited: Paris Salon, France, 1897; Del Monte Art Gallery; National Academy of Design, New York; Blanchard Gallery, Los Angeles, 1909; Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science and Art, 1915, 1917, 1922; Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, 1939.

Awards: Gold medal, Alaska-Yukon Exposition, Seattle, Washington, 1909; medals, Panama-California Exposition, San Diego, 1915.

Works held: Denver Art Museum, Colorado; Irvine Museum; Laguna Art Museum; Long Beach Museum of Art; Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach; Springville Museum of Art, Utah.