A painter, illustrator, caricaturist, and lithographer with a remarkable collection of works first exhibited in 1888. Willette was a painter of Montmartre and a prolific contributor to the French illustrated press under various pseudonyms but mainly under his own name.
A preeminent graphic humorist, he also decorated several brasseries artistiques with wall-paintings and stained glass, notably Le Chat Noir and La Palette d'or, and he painted the highly imaginative ceiling for La Cigale music hall.
He died in 1926 and is buried in the Cimetiere de Montparnasse, Paris, France.