Roger Bohnenblust, Jockey, Gouache, 1960

Description

Roger Bohnenblust, born August 15, 1929 in Mulhouse and died May 30, 1979 in Friborg, is a Swiss painter, designer … more Roger Bohnenblust, born August 15, 1929 in Mulhouse and died May 30, 1979 in Friborg, is a Swiss painter, designer and engraver. Roger Bohnenblust was born in Mulhouse in August 1929, in a Protestant family from Haut-Rhin. He is the son of Werner Bohnenblust, electrician fitter originally from St. Gallen, born in 1899, and of Anna, née Neumann, in 1901. Barely three months after the birth of Roger, the family left Alsace for s' settle in Algiers, where the little boy spent part of his childhood. The circumstances of this installation in North Africa are not known to us today. The family only lived there for a few years before moving to Switzerland in 1935, first to Lucerne and Lausanne; five years later, they took up residence in Friborg. Roger's father entered the service of Entreprises Electriques Fribourgeoises as an assembler. His mother, meanwhile, runs a newspaper kiosk very popular with students on Boulevard de Pérolles; highly sensitive to the visual arts, she strongly encourages Roger to embark on the artistic career to which he aspires. After completing his compulsory primary and secondary school years in the Bourg district, he first studied painting and graphic design at the Ecole des Arts et Métiers in Vevey, between 1947 and 1948, then improved his skills in the workshop of Fribourgeois René Dessonnaz, illustrator from the Cantonal Technicum, from 1949 to 1951. In 1951, eager to broaden his horizons, young Roger left for Paris. There he studied drawing at the Louvre School first, then theatrical decoration and poster design in the studio of Paul Colin (poster artist), who also introduced him to the art of lithography. He also made him aware of the work of Toulouse-Lautrec, from which Bohnenblust would draw inspiration to perform certain works. In 1977, he produced a cycle of paintings for the Embassy, ​​a cabaret located in Friborg, representing cancan dancers or a naked young woman coming out of the bath, reminiscent of his Parisian era. Attracted by the profusion of shows offered by the City of Light and which he attends, the Fribourgeois also tries his hand at various projects of sets for operas and plays, costumes, in particular for Agamemnon, Othello or even Prometheus, in the spirit of the cartoons executed by the decorator and scenographer Christian Bérard. If he did not subsequently produce large sets, we owe him those of a certain number of shows, including "Le Baladin du monde occidental" which was given at the Collège Saint-Michel (Friborg) in 1960, sets executed in collaboration with the artist and teacher Jean Dousse. In addition to this stay, he frequently travels to France where one of his maternal uncles resides with his family in the Paris region, in Juvisy-sur-Orge. He exhibited there on several occasions at the "Salon de Juvisy" which takes place in the village hall. Between 1952 and 1954, returned to Switzerland, Roger held various workshops in Friborg, Basel and Lausanne and tried to live as much as possible from his art, mainly thanks to the realization of various advertising projects for Les Weeks musicales internationales de Lucerne or the Fair. Swiss Basel in 1952, in a style reminiscent of Jean Cocteau and Hans Erni. He spent the next two years at the Swiss National Museum (Landesmuseum) in Zurich as a draftsman alongside his deputy director, Professor Emil Vogt, in the field of archeology and applied arts. During this period, Bohnenblust developed the thoroughness and love for detail that would characterize his future work, starting with that devoted to folk costumes. Work on fine art paper Gray wooden frame with glass pane 61 x 50 x 1 cm This piece is attributed to the mentioned designer/maker. It has no attribution mark and no
official proof of authenticity,
however it is well documented in design history. I take full responsibility for any authenticity



issues arising from misattribution less