Louis Bouché papers
name: label: Creator
content: Bouché, Louis, 1896-1969
label: Names
content: Penguin Club (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Wanamaker Gallery
label: Names
content: Bacon, Peggy, 1895-1987
label: Names
content: Bouché, Ernest
label: Names
content: Bouché, Henri L.
label: Names
content: Bouché, Jane
label: Names
content: Bouché, Marian Wright, 1895-1975
label: Names
content: Brook, Alexander, 1898-1980
label: Names
content: Davidson, Jo, 1883-1952
label: Names
content: Marsh, Reginald, 1898-1954
label: Names
content: Pène du Bois, William, 1916-1993
label: Names
content: Schmidt, Katherine, 1898-1978
topic: label: Topic
content: Muralists -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: 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.
creator: label: Creator
content: Bouché, Louis, 1896-1969
setName: label: See more items in
content: Louis Bouché papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: 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.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Louis Bouché (1896-1969) was a painter, muralist, and educator who lived and worked in New York City.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.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 5.9 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1880-2007
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.boucloui
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Sketches
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Travel diaries
label: Type
content: Drawings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: This collection is arranged as 8 series.

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)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: 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.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: 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.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketches
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Travel diaries
label: Genre/Form
content: Drawings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: 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.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: 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.