René Bouché was an Austro-Hungarian born artist who is best known for the work he did as an illustrator for Vogue magazine beginning in 1938, but he also produced portraits, works for the theatre, and abstract paintings. In general, his pieces are fun, sophisticated and have this great sketch-like quality to them - even the richly painted pieces that became Vogue covers.
Work like this is just gorgeous and I just do not get why it went out of style. Seriously, if art like this appeared on the covers of magazines now (rather than the art of air-brushing) - I know I'd buy more copies than I do now. Anyone with me?
(To see more images of Bouché's work, go to: http://www.renebouche.com/artist/)
last image via: giam.typepad.com
rest of images, info and quote via: renebouche.com