Thursday, January 01, 2009

Jean Boullet

An illustration from Les Beaux Gars, published in Nice 1951.

Born in 1921, Boullet was part of a circle of openly gay artists. His drawing style is reminiscent of Jean Cocteau-- with a hint of Tom of Finland.

Although he has a wide reputation in France (the Pompidou Center describes him as a "goblin in chains and black leather") there's hardly anything written about him in English.

What do you know about this under-appreciated artist? Please post any info in comments.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Born in 1921. I've read he was very extravagant in his own life style . As a film critic (he also had a specialised store of his own, quite a wealthy personn), he would not hesitate to embellish his memories of old Universal classics of horror (his most famous exemple was his fantastic vision of "Mask of Fu Manchu" starring Karloff at a time it was impossible to see it again in theaters). He was a great influence on the creation of the famous magazine "Midi-Minuit fantastique", even though he only collaborated on 2 or 3 first number issues. he was also famous for his wild temper which occasionnally created some serious social problems. By the end of his life, he had several facial plastic surgeries, even his close friends did not quite understood why. Psychological issues, certainly...
His death in Algeria in 1970 stays quite a mystery to this day. Suspicion of murder has never been really lifted, but it is mostly assumed to be a suicide.
...
Uh I'm impressed by my own knowledge about this guy! Actually, I've read a French book by Nicolas Stanzick about Hammer-films in France dealing quite a lot with him.

that's all I know.

Barry Harrison said...

thanks for sharing that. i'm impressed too! a fascinating if largely untold story...

Ross Bennett Lewis said...

I have seen his drawings available on Ebay, however I think they are probably counterfit. Like Cocteau, they seem easy to copy.