Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to the Louis Bouché papers, 1880-2007, in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.boucloui
Creators:
Bouché, Louis, 1896-1969
Dates:
1880-2007
Languages:
The collection is in
English
and
French
.
Physical Description:
5.9 Linear feet
Repository:
The papers of painter and muralist Louis Bouché measure 5.9 linear feet and date from 1880 to 2007. Found within the papers are biographical material; personal correspondence, including correspondence from the extended Bouché family; writings; financial records; printed material; four scrapbooks; artwork; and photographs of Bouché, his family and friends, and his work.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The papers of painter and muralist Louis Bouché measure 5.9 linear feet and date from 1880 to 2007. Found within the papers are biographical material; personal correspondence, including correspondence from the extended Bouché family; writings; financial records; printed material; four scrapbooks; artwork; and photographs of Bouché, his family and friends, and his work.
Biographical material consists of family certificates and Bouché's curriculum vitae.
The bulk of the correspondence consists of letters from Bouché 's father to his mother, and of letters addressed to his daughter, Jane. These include letters Louis and Marian wrote to Jane, along with letters from her first husband, William Pène du Bois, during the early days of their courtship and marriage. The handful of letters directly addressed to Louis and Marian include correspondence from Peggy Bacon and Katherine Schmidt.
Writings include drafts of Bouché's autobiography, eight journals kept by Marian Bouché detailing their travels in the United States and abroad, four reminiscences of Bouché written by others, and a poem written by Peggy Bacon.
Personal business records consist of two ledger books, lists, and receipts documenting inventory and records of sales.
Printed material consists of clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, and periodicals related to Bouché's work. There are also three books from Bouché's personal library and exhibition announcements and catalogs from Walt Kuhn's Penguin Club and Wanamaker's Gallery.
Two scrapbooks include clippings, photographs, and printed material related to Bouché 's career. One scrapbook includes material related to the extended Bouché family, and one scrapbook consists of reproductions of works of art by modern French artists.
Photographic materials include ten photograph albums. Three are of Louis, Marian, and Jane, three are of Jane and her family, and four are of Louis' parents and sister's family. There are also loose prints and negatives of Bouché, his family and friends, and works of art.
Artwork consists of sketches and drawings by Louis, Jane, Henri, and Ernest Bouché. Additional sketches by Peggy Bacon, Alexander Brook, Jo Davidson, and Reginald Marsh are also included.

Arrangement

Arrangement
This collection is arranged as 8 series.
  • Missing Title
  • Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1880-1964 (2 folders, Box 1)
  • Series 2: Correspondence, 1880-2003 (1.2 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
  • Series 3: Writings, 1933-1995 (.9 linear feet, Boxes 2-3)
  • Series 4: Personal Business Records, 1930-1974 (4 folders, Box 3)
  • Series 5: Printed Material, 1900-1997 (.5 linear feet; Boxes 3, 6)
  • Series 6: Scrapbooks, 1880-1969 (.8 linear feet; Boxes 3, 7-8)
  • Series 7: Photographic Materials, 1890-1994 (2.3 linear feet; Boxes 3-5, 9-10)
  • Series 8: Artwork, 1870-1965 (10 folders; Boxes 5, 10)

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Louis Bouché (1896-1969) was a painter, muralist, and educator who lived and worked in New York City.
Bouché was born in New York City to Henri and Marie Bouché. His father was an interior designer who worked with Stanford White and for Tiffany, and his grandfather, Ernest Louis Bouché, was a Barbizon school painter. After his father's death in 1909, his mother moved the family to Paris where Bouché attended art school at La Grand Chaumère. When the family moved back to America in 1915, Bouché enrolled at the Art Students League where he met fellow student and lifelong friend Alexander Brook. In 1916, Bouché was invited to become a member of Walt Kuhn's Penguin Club, and in 1918, he joined the stable of Charlie Daniel's Daniel Gallery. At this time, Bouché began exhibiting in shows organized by Julianna Force for the Whitney Studio Club, which later evolved into the Whitney Museum. In 1920, he was introduced to the Woodstock artist community and was a frequent summer resident at the colony.
Bouché met Marian Wright while they were both members of the Penguin Club, and they were married in 1921. Upon returning from their honeymoon, Bouché accepted a position managing exhibitions for Wanamaker's Belmaison Galleries, the first modern art gallery in a department store in New York. Their daughter Jane would later marry William Pène du Bois, son of Guy Pène du Bois, whom the Bouchés had known from their days in the Penguin Club. In 1926, Bouché separated from Wanamaker's and began taking commissions for mural and design work, eventually completing murals for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Radio City Music Hall, and the Pennsylvania Railroad. In addition to murals, Bouché did illustrative advertising work for various publications, including Condé Nast and Town and Country.
In 1936, Bouché joined the stable at Kraushaar Gallery, where he eventually exhibited a series of ten one-man shows. Bouché also held solo exhibitons at the Valentine Gallery, Staten Island Institute, Century Association, and Albany Institute. Beginning in 1943, Bouché taught for many years at the Art Students League and began teaching at the National Academy of Design in 1951. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1936 and was the American Academy in Rome's artist in residence in 1960.
Louis Bouché died in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on August 7, 1969.

Administration

Author
Judy Ng
Sponsor
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
A portion of the Louis Bouché papers were loaned for microfilming and subsequently donated by the artist and his wife in 1963 and from 1972 to 1973. Additions were donated by Bouché's daughter, Jane Bouché Strong, in several accretions dating from 1978 to 1988. In 2011, Anne Strong, Jane B. Strong's executor, donated additional materials to the Archives of American Art.
Existence and Location of Copies
The bulk of this collection was digitized in 2013 and is available on the Archives of American Art's website. Blank pages, blank versos of photographs, and duplicates have not been scanned. In most cases, only the cover, title page, and individual relevant pages have been scanned from published materials.
Processing Information
The papers of Louis Bouché received preliminary processing upon arrival at the Archives and portions of the Bouché papers were microfilmed onto reels D117, D128, 672, 688-689, 3957; these reels are no longer in circulation. All accessions were merged into one logical arrangement, described, and prepared for scanning by Judy Ng in 2013 with funding provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation
Louis Bouché papers, 1880-2007. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Conditions Governing Access
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Terms of Use
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

Related Materials
Also found in the Archives of American Art are two oral history interviews with Louis Bouché, one conducted by John Morse, August 7, 1959, and another by William Woolfenden on March 13, 1963.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Muralists -- New York (State) -- New York Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sketches Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Scrapbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Travel diaries Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Drawings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pène du Bois, William, 1916-1993 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bacon, Peggy, 1895-1987 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bouché, Henri L. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bouché, Ernest Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bouché, Jane Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bouché, Marian Wright, 1895-1975 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Davidson, Jo, 1883-1952 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Marsh, Reginald, 1898-1954 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Schmidt, Katherine, 1898-1978 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Brook, Alexander, 1898-1980 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Penguin Club (New York, N.Y.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wanamaker Gallery Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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