René Bouché
(1906-1963)
René Bouché was already in his thirties, before he could convince Vogue to give him a chance and it is in 1939 when his first work appeared in the English and French issues. As a Czechoslovakian immigrant he joined the army at the outbreak of World War II and was taken prisoner. He fled 1941 to New York and soon started working for the American Vogue. His free, expressive style, his keen sense of observation and his witty margin commentaries were well received and soon he belonged to the top illustrators of the journal. On 1946 as the luxury liner Queen Elizabeth left New York on her maiden voyage René Bouché is on board as a special correspondent. In 1957 he travelled through Japan to observe the make-up ritual of geishas and enjoyed similar privileges that once Toulouse-Lautrec and Degas enjoyed, who were at home in the dressing rooms of performers of the Montmatre. Until his sudden death in 1963 he was the last of the “old school” illustrators who still worked for Vogue. Upon his death the journal devoted a long obituary for Bouché which was not usually done for an illustrator.
René Bouché was already in his thirties, before he could convince Vogue to give him a chance and it is in 1939 when his first work appeared in the English and French issues. As a Czechoslovakian immigrant he joined the army at the outbreak of World War II and was taken prisoner. He fled 1941 to New York and soon started working for the American Vogue. His free, expressive style, his keen sense of observation and his witty margin commentaries were well received and soon he belonged to the top illustrators of the journal. On 1946 as the luxury liner Queen Elizabeth left New York on her maiden voyage René Bouché is on board as a special correspondent. In 1957 he travelled through Japan to observe the make-up ritual of geishas and enjoyed similar privileges that once Toulouse-Lautrec and Degas enjoyed, who were at home in the dressing rooms of performers of the Montmatre. Until his sudden death in 1963 he was the last of the “old school” illustrators who still worked for Vogue. Upon his death the journal devoted a long obituary for Bouché which was not usually done for an illustrator.
