GUS BOFA PUBLISHER TERQUEM 1928
Inv. GF
Hermès 24 Fg St Honoré Paris Deposited
Unique piece
Cigarette box in Macassar ebony veneer decorated in reserve with a copper engraving after a drawing for the Fables of La Fontaine, by Gus Bofa, J. Terquem, Publisher, Paris, 1928.
This is the illustration for "The Heifer, the Goat and the Sheep, in Society with the Lion" in the 1st volume, on page 12.
Signature engraved in the wood inside the box
Copperplate engraving signature
Engraving from the book: Les fables de la Fontaine, illustrated by Gus Bofa, published by J. Terquem, Publisher, Paris, 1928
A similar box, also for Hermès, was made with the engraving of the fable "The Cochet, the Cat and the Mouse", also in the 1st volume on page 290.
Gus Bofa
the man with the pencil who says a lot
Photography by Gus Bofa
Gustave H. É. Blanchot ( 1883-1968) chose at the age of 5 to call himself " Gus Bofa ". Gus Bofa was born in Brive in Corrèze. Son of Colonel PL Blanchot, he was destined for a military career. He gave up on joining the Saint-Cyr school to "scribble" and sell his drawings, for a meager sum, to illustrated newspapers like Le Sourire or Le Rire. Success was not long in coming. In 1906 he drew "Gus-Bofa posters" and, encouraged by Mac Orlan, became an illustrator for luxury books.
..."The debate is eternal. Bofa, in Les Toubibs , in La Baïonnette, but also later in his Guerre de Cent An s with its satirical and outrageous drawings, does not take a position against this war, but against all wars. Which was not so frequent at that time and earned him the respect of his peers.
He went to Germany, drew the beginning of Nazism and took an open stand against anti-Semites.
Comments collected by Jean-Pierre FUÉRI
Free supplement to Casemate 71 – June 2014.
In charge of the literary column of the Crapouillot , a literary and artistic magazine, which he held until 1939, Bofa was also the founder and director of the Salon de l'Araignée . The Salon de l'Araignée provided a space of freedom for designers and encouraged them to pursue a more personal art. The Salon de l'Araignée occupies an important place in the history of illustration.
In the 1930s his work took a more personal turn. " Malaises" describes existential angst and " The Symphony of Fear" proposes fear as the driving force of human history. " Zoo" presents man as a denatured animal. In the 1940s Bofa distanced himself from everything and withdrew "far from radios, newspapers and the unbearable discussions between the deaf and blind about the war" .
The 1950s mark the end of luxury publishing and, for Bofa, the beginning of oblivion. Indifferent to glory, he deepens, through autobiographical books, for which he signs texts and images, such as La Voie libre , Déblais or La Croisière incertaine , a disillusioned and pessimistic reflection on the human condition.
He died in 1968 at the age of eighty-five without flowers or a crown!
The Spider's Lounge
The Spider Salon was created on the initiative of Gus Bofa, an illustrator for humorous magazines, in reaction to the Salon des humoristes which he described as mediocre. For 10 years, the Devambez Gallery in Paris hosted the works of the best designers, illustrators and engravers of the interwar period on the occasion of the Spider Salon.
Inv. GF
Roger Foy, who made this theatre cane for Louis Vuitton, was a member of the Salon de l'Arraignée
Thanks to Patrick Flumet - Geneva
END
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