Looking Backwards: The Illustration of Gaston Bussiere

Never before have classic illustrators had so many eyes on their work. Over the last two decades, the internet has breathed second life into thousands of illustrations once consigned to the library. Beyond occasional coffee table books, most people had spotty and limited access to vintage illustration. The vast visual archive of the internet has provided a whole new gallery free and open to the public. This "revival" isn't just limited to illustrators--a wide variety of nineteenth-century artists are receiving second consideration thanks to the online circulation of their work. Romantic figure painting, generally dismissed by the modernists and ignored by the contemporary art world, has found a whole new audience via Google Image Search. As such, a vital visual contribution to the world of fantasy is being re-explored as "forgotten" illustrators and artists receive fresh attention.

Though the Pre-Raphaelites have experienced a resurgence in popularity over the last two decades, the same can't be said for many of their symbolist counterparts. While artists like John William Waterhouse and Dante Gabrielle Rosetti dominate Pinterest boards and "classic art" tumblrs, the symbolists have been somewhat left out of the internet's rediscovery and celebration of once shunned Romantic painters. One of these largely forgotten romantics is Gaston Bussiere. Though close with symbolist giants like Gustave Moreau and much in demand during his lifetime, Bussiere's work has been surprisingly neglected given the renaissance of interest in turn of the century illustration. Considering the recent attention given to illustrators like Arthur Rackham, Warwick Goble, and Edmund Dulac, it seems a bit odd that Bussiere remains generally unknown.

Had Bussiere been a minor figure working on the outskirts of the mainstream, his obscurity would be more understandable. Yet, the artist was one of the most regarded and sought after French illustrators during a rich period in French illumination. Bussiere illustrated works for major figures like Berlioz, Balzac, Flaubert, Gautier and Oscar Wilde. It would seem that these associations alone would have secured his place in the annals of illustration, yet most of the designers I spoke to, many of them history buffs who enjoy mining the past for inspiration, were completely unfamiliar with Bussiere's work (as I was myself before beginning work on this post).

To explore the work of Bussiere is to explore a world of lush colors and sumptuous light. Like Moreau, Bussiere's paintings are awash in organic hues, yet Bussiere's colors are even more vibrant, almost Blakean in their exuberance. Like Waterhouse, Bussiere had a fondness for painting nymphs and dryads. Lithe figures can be found lounging and playing alongside the water. Like many of his contemporaries, Bussiere was drawn to classic young heroines and "femme fatales" like Joan of Arc and Salome. Though most of his themes are drawn from classic literature, Bussiere's Wagner illustrations are some of his most "fantasy" centric pieces. Here are a handful of some of the artist's paintings.