Bouasse-Lebel
The publishing house for religious printmaking Bouasse-Lebel , founded in Paris in 1845 , produced devotional pictures in particular . Most of the pictures are signed, so the name is well known among collectors and the publisher's top and embossed pictures are coveted for their quality.
history
The Bouasse-Lebel printing company was founded by Eulalie Bouasse in Paris.
Eulalie, born in Paris in 1809, was the only daughter of the printer Jacques-Auguste Lebel. In 1827 she married the printing foreman Francois-Marie Bouasse. When the latter abandoned her and her two children, in financial difficulties, she founded a printing company for religious images in 1845, initially under the name "Madame Bouasse, nee Lebel". In 1847 the printing house moved to St. Sulpice, 29 Rue St. Sulpice, Paris, the center of the religious printing industry.
In 1852 Eulalie Bouasse sold the now successful business to her eldest son Henri, the other son Emile initially worked in the business. In the early days, books, maps and other printed matter were printed in addition to religious images. The company received significant recognitions for its religious printing skills, including a papal recommendation in 1871 (Pope Pius IX ).
In 1867 Emile left the printing company and founded a rival company under the name Bouasse-Jeune. The company was also based in St. Sulpice, and established a hostile relationship between the two brothers.
Both printing works were famous for the unusual design of their religious printing art, in particular for their delicate, precious top-quality images. Both companies were known for the use of modern, innovative printing techniques and introduced chromolithography in the 1870s .
In close collaboration with Parisian art publishers, including Bouasse-Lebel, the small devotional image as well as the religious wall print was promoted by the Parisian artists' association Societe St. Jean, founded in 1872.
Emile died in 1881 at the age of 49, his widow and children took over the business, which they continued until the beginning of the 20th century. Eulalie died in 1898, Henri in 1912. The printing company was continued by his son Albert.
After the Second World War, interest in religious images and elaborate religious prints declined or was supplanted by photographic reproductions and cheap mass printing. Albert Bouasse died in 1955 and the Bouasse-Lebel company ceased printing in the 1960s.
Die-cut lace pictures
The machine-punched lace pictures of the 19th century replaced the paper and parchment cut picture that was created in the early 17th century as a new type of small devotional picture, which was more widely used than the hand-made picture due to the industrial, reproducible production. The Bouasse-Lebel company was one of the leading manufacturers of these small pictures in France, most of which had the company name printed on them (see illustration).
The delicate lace and embossed images are coveted collector's items today and are traded between 5.00 and approx. 80.00 euros depending on the features (e.g. lace decoration, hand-colored engraving, chromolithography).
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://ead.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ead/view?docId=ead/ODaU0048.xml;chunk.id=bioghist_1;brand=default
- ↑ Elisabetta Gulli Grigioni: Il mondo di Eulalie. Storia de la Maison Bouasse-Lebel. In: Charta (2010) 109, pp. 58–61 with 9 color illustrations of French punched point images from the 19th century.
- ↑ http://lacompagniedesarbres.blogspot.de/2012/01/image-pieuse-bouasse-jeune.html
- ↑ Christa Pieske: Pictures for everyone. Wall picture prints 1840 - 1940. Keysersche Verlagsbuchhandlung München, 1988. P. 71.
- ↑ Manfred Brauneck : Religiöse Volkskunst, Dumont Buchverlag, Cologne 1979², p. 162 u. 174.
- ↑ Hans Gärtner: Devotional pictures. Verlag St. Michaelsbund, Munich 2004, p. 63