Guy Billout

His style and technique often portrays a surreal parallel dream world where something is out of kilter.

• Birth Name — Guy Billout • Born — 7 July 1941 • Birthplace — Decize, France • Field — Illustration, fine artist • Training — Ecole des Arts Appliqués • Awards — * Hamilton King Award, 1989 • Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame, 2016

Born July 7, 1941 in Decize, Billout grew up in Nevers, a small town in the center of France where he received a conventional education. His father, René George was a journalist and his mother, Christiane, a bookseller. No one in his family had an artistic background. In the 1950s, he studied advertising at the Ecole des Arts Appliqués of Beaune, in the Burgundy region. In 1962, Billout moved to Paris and worked for the advertising agency Publicis as a designer until 1966. From 1966 until 1968 he worked at the advertising agency, Thibaud-Lintas. In 1969 the artist moved to New York City and begin a career as a full time illustrator.

In 1969, new to the United States and inexperienced as a professional illustrator, he showed an illustrated story about a young artist and his obsession with America which used a mix of comic pictures, photographic collage, watercolor, colored pencil and ink to Milton Glaser, the design director of New York magazine at the time. Glaser loved them and published the entire portfolio. Billout's first assignment came from art director Bob Ciano at Redbook magazine. The assignment consisted of a series of 12 small illustrations based on short stories under the titled Summer Fiction Bonus in the August 1969 issue. Ciano would continue to call on Billout over many years to come as the art director moved on to work at The New York Times, Life, Travel & Leisure, Encyclopedia Britannica, and at other publications.

In 1982, Judy Garlan from The Atlantic Monthly would offer Billout a bi-monthly full page in the magazine. Billout was given total editorial freedom and the column became an integral part of the magazine’s editorial voice for 24 years. The theme of the feature was to take what seemed to be an ordinary scene from life and introduce an unexpected element. The first drawing in the series appeared in the February 1982 issue and the final in the series appeared in the February 2006 issue. The artist considers this series to be his most significant works. Thanks in part to this regular exposure, he was soon one of the most sought-after illustrators in North America. In 2008, Billout would be brought back to do another series for The Atlantic, which ran under the title Gallery and would run until 2012. Billout's client list includes The Atlantic, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Oprah, Travel & Leisure, Business Week, Fortune, Time, and many others.

A limited archive of the artist's work, commissioned by the publication between 1997 and 2007, is stored by The Atlantic.

The Smithsonian holds seven works by Billout from the years 1980 through 1986, all gifts from Time magazine • Sorry America, Your Insurance Has Been Cancelled, 1986 • Accusing the Press, 1984 • America's Upbeat Mood, 1984 • U.S. Immigration: Stemming the Tide, 1982 • The President's Men, 1981 • Why Italy Works, 1981 • Help! Teachers Can't Teach, 1980

• Des Equilibres at Galerie Petits Papiers Gallery, 2012, sixty works between 1987 and 2012 • University of Massachusetts, 2006

• Teacher at Parsons School of Design in New York since 1985

The work of Billout is founded in strict attention to the details of the subject matter he is addressing. The artist goes to enormous lengths, visiting a site, photographing details, obtaining documents on the subject in order to obtain exacting representations of what is being portrayed.

• Gold Medal, Society of Illustrators • The Frog Who Wanted to See the Sea, Silver Medal, Society of Illustrators • American Illustration 34, 2014 • Society of Publication Designers Distinctive Merit, 2008, for The New Yorker with art director Chris Curry

Billout won the Hamilton King Award in 1989 and was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 2016. • Silver Medal, Society of Illustrators, 2007 for The Frog Who Wanted to See The Sea, for Creative Editions, art director by Rita Marshall • Gold Medal, Society of Illustrators, 1982 for Squid and Spider: A Look at the Animal Kingdom • Gold Medal for Prop, for The Atlantic Monthly Magazine, art directed by Judy Garlan, Society of Illustrators 1988 • Silver Medal, Society of Illustrators, 1985 • Silver Medal, Society of Illustrators, 1987 • 2 Gold Medals, Society of Illustrators, 1974