- Josephe-Félix Bouchor
- 1853-1937
- Painting the War Day by Day
'It's a Long Way to Tipperary' - our British allies in France
Brother to the well-known author Maurice Bouchor, Josephe-Félix was trained in the fine arts by Benjamin Constant and Jules Lefebvre. His work was accepted in the academic exhibitions of the Salon in Paris from 1879 onwards till just a year before his death in 1936.
His war-time paintings were all done in a realistic style, at times very similar to that of Lucien Jonas. But while Jonas often resorted to the use of allegories and at times depicted combat in somewhat improbable heroic terms, Bouchor was bent on depicting the war without exagerrating the everyday heroism of its participants. He was accredited as war artist to the French Musée de l'Armée in Paris and as such was of course given the means to visit various French fronts throughout the war. His paintings often depict the everyday life of the French soldier, usually behind the fighting lines. A very gifted portraitist, he also produced realistic portraits of high ranking French officers.
The images shown in this collection, are from the years 1914-1915, when the war was still relatively young. There is therefor a somewhat old-fashioned quality to his work, especially when rural France or the more remote combat zones in the Vosges or Alsace are depicted. His work was published in color in war time magazines, usually those of a more artistic nature such as for instance in the beautifully illustrated 'La Guerre des Nations'. These publications often included fine quality prints of his paintings that were suitable for framing. His paintings were also sold as postcards during the war. Immediately after the war, reproductions of his work was published in a bound portfolio as color prints on quality art paper.
- a photo of Josephe-Félix Bouchor
- taken from a 1917 article on war-artists by Lucien Jonas
- Behind the Lines
- Portraits
two postcards from J-F. Bouchor, written in 1915 to a friend
