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Jean Crotti (April 24, 1878 – January
30,1958) was a France|French painter.

Crotti was born in Bulle, Fribourg, Switzerland.
He first studied in Munich, Germany at the School
of Decorative Arts, then at age 23 moved to Paris
to study art at the Académie Julian. Initially he
was influenced by Impressionism, then by Fauvism
and Art Nouveau. Around 1910 he began to
experiment with Puteaux Group|Orphism, an offshoot
of Cubism, and a style that would be enhanced by
his association in New York City with Marcel
Duchamp and Francis Picabia.

A refugee from World War I, he looked to America
as a place where he could live and develop his
art. In New York, he shared a studio with Marcel
Duchamp and met his sister, Suzanne Duchamp. She
was part of the Dada movement in which Crotti
would become involved. In 1916, he exhibited
Orphist-like paintings, several of which had
religious titles that also included his Portrait
of Marcel Duchamp and his much discussed Les
Forces MÈcaniques de l'amour Mouvement, created
by using found objects. 

In the fall of 1916, Crotti separated from his
wife, Yvonne Chastel, and returned to Paris. He
had begun a relationship with Suzanne Duchamp that
would culminate in his divorce in 1919 and
immediate marriage to Suzanne. An artist in her
own right, she would greatly influence Jean
Crotti’s painting. In 1920, he produced one
of his best known works, a portrait of Thomas
Edison.  He would be part of the 1925 Exposition
International in Paris, and the International
Exhibition of Modern Art at the Brooklyn Museum in
1926 - 1927. Over the ensuing years, he would
create numerous paintings and be the subject for
several solo exhibitions at major galleries in
England, France, Germany, and the United States.

Crotti died in Paris.