Émile Friant began his training at the École des Beaux-Arts in Nancy and exhibited at the local Salon from the age of fifteen. He continued his studies in Paris in the studio of the painter Alexandre Cabanel and at the age of twenty was awarded the Second Prix de Rome.

A naturalist painter, Emile Friant mainly painted portraits and scenes of everyday life. In particular, he painted portraits of his artist friends from Nancy including Victor Prouvé, Camille Martin, Mathias Schiff, Ernest Bussière and Charles de Meixmoron. His canvases drew their instant character from the photographic process. Following his success at the 1889 Universal Exhibition, where he was awarded a gold medal for La Toussaint, Émile Friant was commissioned to paint portraits of leading figures from Nancy and the United States.
His contribution to the decorative arts was more limited than those of painters Camille Martin and Victor Prouvé. In collaboration with Camille Martin, he gave Louis Majorelle, a furniture design on the theme of Don Quixote and commissioned René Wiener to produce a bookbinding illustrating "The guillotine and the executors of criminal arrests during the Revolution".

He became a member of the Ecole de Nancy steering committee in 1901. He taught at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1906.