Legion of Honor

In 1940, art director and fashion illustrator René Bouché (1905-1963) left war-torn Paris for New York and became a regular contributor to Vogue magazine. In 1945, Vogue commissioned who was an art director and fashion illustrator in Paris before World War II, was commissioned Bouché to cover the first post-war couture shows in Paris. The trip to Europe was traumatic for the artist, who discovered a people struggling to regain normalcy after the war. This exhibition contains his “letters”—some of which were published in Vogue—illustrated with sketches of Parisians: poignant observations of young girls on bicycles, women waiting for their bread rations, black marketeers, American GIs amid crowded theaters and cafés.

This exhibition celebrates the 2010 gifts of these works by Denise Fitch, a trustee of the Fine Arts Museums who met Bouché while she was a Vogue editor and became his second wife. Through Vogue, Bouché is also associated with Lee Miller, whom he knew in pre-war Paris and who contributed photographs to the magazine before and after the war.

Rene Bouche’s second wife, Denise Fitch, an FAMSF trustee who met Bouché while she was an editor at Vogue. Vogue magazine is the thread that connects this exhibition to Lee Miller, whom Bouché knew in pre-war Paris, and who contributed photographs to Vogue before and after the war.