100 Years of Illustration : René Robert Bouché 1906-1963

Text and photo captions from the LIFE magazine article of 19 May 1961. That young man was the first celebrity astronaut. Click on images to enlarge.

Bouché's subject was Tammy Grimes, who was enjoying popularity at the time as a perky ingenue of stage and screen, as they used to say. The link will fill you in on her life and accomplishments.

The photographs were taken by the eminent photographer Dmitri Kessel whose career you can read about in this link. The accompanying photographs are copyright by him and/or Time/Life and are used here solely for educational purposes.

All the rest of the photos are pretty much self-explanatory. The link at the top of this post connects to actual captions used in the article.

Bouché's painting in black, before he lays on color. He must not have liked it, because he painted it over.

Upending the painting to check on it as a good design.

Noodling in the details.

Finished painting.

Years ago Vogue used to be quite an interesting magazine. My wife subscribed to it and I got to admire and appreciate the work of René Bouché, who appeared with great frequency in the magazine. These go back to the mid-1950s, I believe. They are reproduced here as purely instructional with no intent whatsoever to infringe on the copyright, per sections of the U.S. copyright law that allow for the instructional use of such material. There are several more Bouché images on the Condé Nast art website. Click on this link.

This is Julie Harris, grand dame of the American stage, from the issue of 1 April 1954.

This is a good link to more work by René Robert Bouché. He was a Czech who emigrated to France and served in the French army during World War II, then arrived in the USA in 1941, was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942 and became an American citizen thereafter. He taught at the Art Students League in New York City.