Jean Winance is a painter, drawer and engraver born in 1911 in Ettelbruck in Luxembourg. He spent his youth in Binche in the Walloon region in the province of Hainaut, where he began working as a portrait painter in 1931. He received his artistic education at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Mons and the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels under the guidance of Contant Montald and Louis Buisseret. He was very active in the Mons art scene participating about thirty times in the exhibitions of the Le Bon Vouloir circle from 1930. In 1932, he met Anto Carte and joined the Nervia group, sharing their ambition to promote and enhance Walloon art facing at the time the strong presence of Flemish expressionism. His painting was influenced by the idealised and stylised concepts of the Nervia movement. Jean Winance is characterised by a versatile production that reflects his constant research. Attached to different mediums and subject to various influences, he was awarded the Prix Célestin Jacquet in 1936 for his watercolours. He then began a career as a drawing teacher in Binche while attending courses at the Académie des Beaux-Arts de Mons from 1936 to 1938. In 1938, he was given a workshop at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp under the direction of Baron Onsomer. In 1943, he became a professor at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Tournai where he taught until 1976. In the latter part of his career, he oriented his works towards a realistic style. His works can be found in the collections of the museums of Binche, La Louvière and Tournai. In 1993, he had a retrospective exhibition at the Maison de la Culture in Tournai before dying in 1999.