Jean Lightman was born in Atlanta, GA in 1952. While in college and graduate school, she began drawing classes but did not pursue an artistic career until she moved to Boston in 1976. It was there, after many classes and workshops in portraiture and figurative drawing that she met Paul Ingbretson, who, being a former student of R.H. Ives Gammell, taught paint techniques commonly used in the 19th century French Academy.
Ms. Lightman began her formal art training in Ingbretson‘s atelier in 1982 and studied nearly ten years with him. Teaching in the tradition of the Boston School, Ingbretson led his students through rigorous training, beginning with charcoal cast drawing, followed by still life painting, figure drawing, and finally portrait painting. Emphasis was placed upon accurate drawing with sensitivity to form and edges, strong light effect, vibrant color, and overall unity.
Working on her own since 1992, Ms. Lightman has exhibited her paintings at prominent galleries in Massachusetts and New York. She holds a Distinguished Artist membership at the Concord Art Association and Copley Artist standing at the Copley Society of Boston. Her artwork was included in the book, The Perfect Palette by Bonnie Krims (Warner Books, 1998). In 1998, one of her paintings was hung in the Junior League’s Decorator Showhouse and appeared in Traditional Home magazine. In 1989, she was elected a member of the prestigious Guild of Boston Artists, where she currently serves on the Board of Managers as vice-president and curated a major historical exhibition, “A Woman’s Perspective: Founding and Early Women Members of the Guild of Boston Artists, 1914-1945.” She received the Guild‘s R.H. Ives Gammell Award in 2002 for her still life, "The Fisherman" and the North Shore Arts Association Award in 2010 for the still life “Qi.”
Ms. Lightman was elected President of the Guild in 2014. She has also served as secretary and vice-president.