Painter and printmaker Jean-Pierre Alaux was born in La Ciotat, France on November 14, 1925, the son of painter Francois Alaux. He graduated from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris in 1946 and studied in the studio of Jean Dupas in from 1943 to 1949. Earning a living as a decorative painter, he saved enough money to tour Italy by bicycle in 1947, traveling with fellow artist Frederic Vidalens. In 1949 he won a poster design contest for the Faubourg St. Honore Des Fables des Fontaine, and exhibited at the Paris Salon, where he was awarded a silver medal for painting. He continued to exhibit throughout France and greater Europe, as well as Japan, Korea, Lebanon, and the United States, for much of his career. He was a member of the National Society of Fine Arts and the Salon d'Automne (serving as president of the Drawing and Water Color division for a time). Later in his career he was appointed Official Painter of the Navy (1975) and Painter of Air and Space (1993). The French government named him Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1988 following a retrospective at the Grand Palais.  He died in Paris in 2020.