Jean de Bosschère

The style of these illustrations, as well as his later work, was influenced by the drawings of Aubrey Beardsley and the spiritual works of French poet and dramatist Paul Claudel. De Bosschère was accused of Satanism in 1912, in response to his first novel, Dolorine et les Ombres (1911). In 1914, he made a trip to Italy. In 1915, after the outbreak of World War I, he fled from Belgium and went to London where he met writers such as Aldous Huxley and D. Lawrence, Ezra Pound, and T. De Bosschère illustrated numerous books in the '20s and '30s, including the poems of Oscar Wilde and Charles Baudelaire and erotic classics by Aristophanes, Ovid, and Apuleius. At the end of 1922, he left London and lived in Albano near Rome, followed by Brussels, Paris, and Solaia near Siena in Italy, where De Bosschère worked on his many novels and poetry collections. De Bosschère settled in La Châtre in central France in 1938. De Bosschère's work was marked by a persistent search for spirituality and a fascination with the occult and the sexual. He wrote several novels, including two autobiographies, and two anthologies of most of his poetry, however, much of his work remains unpublished. In 1952, he was awarded the Prix de la Méditerranée (Mediterranean Prize) and the Mandat des Poètes.

Jean de Bosschère studied at Royal Academy of Fine Arts. The recorded working language is French and English. The field of work recorded is literature, poetry and art criticism. Work by Jean de Bosschère is recorded in the collections of Royal Library of Belgium, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Archives et Musée de la Littérature and Musée National d'Art Moderne.

• Name — Jean De Bosschere • Occupation — Painter, writer • Born — 5 July 1878 • Died — 17 January 1953 • Birthplace — Uccle, Belgium • Place of death — Châteauroux, France • Illustration — Ovid

Bosschère was born in Uccle, the son of Charles de Bosschere and Nancy Marie Hélène Van der Stock. In 1884, the family moved to Lier, where Jean spent a tormented childhood full of affection for his disfigured sister Marthe, described in Marthe et l'Enragé. In 1893, Jean attended the École d'Horticulture in Ghent. In 1894, the family moved to Antwerp, where Jean attended the Royal Academy of Fine Arts from 1896 to 1900.

In 1915, after the outbreak of World War I, he fled from Belgium and went to London where he met writers such as John Gould Fletcher, Aldous Huxley and D. H. Lawrence, and Imagist poets such as Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot and Richard Aldington. He met several London publishers for whom he illustrated numerous books in the '20s and '30s. Among the books he illustrated were the poems of Oscar Wilde and Charles Baudelaire. He also illustrated erotic classics by Aristophanes, Ovid, Strato and Apuleius. In 1920, he moved in with his beloved Vera Anne Hamilton but she died in January 1922. At the end of 1922, he left London with Élisabeth d'Ennetières, with whom he would stay for the rest of his life. They settled in Albano, near Rome. In the winter of 1925–26, they lived in Brussels, then from March 1926, in Paris, where he met Antonin Artaud. They also stayed regularly Solaia near Siena in Italy, where De Bosschere worked on his many novels and poetry collections.

The work of De Bosschere was marked by a persistent spiritual seeking in his life he developed a fascination with the occult, the spiritual, the obscure and the sexual. He gave himself the nickname "Satan" and "l'Obscure", which formed the title of Satan l'Obscure (1933), his second autobiographical novel after Marthe et l'Enragé. The decade of the '30s was difficult for De Bosschere. He wrote several novels that he regarded as failures and found little illustration work due to the poor economic climate. From 1938 he lived a secluded life in La Châtre in central France. He kept a diary from 1946 titled Journal d'un Rebelle Solitaire that has remained unreleased. He also made two anthologies of most of his poetry: Derniers poèmes de l'Obscure (1948) and Héritiers de l'abime (1950).

• The Closed Door, trans. F. S. Flint. John Lane: New York, 1917. • Folk Tales of Flanders (also pub. as Beasts and Men). London: William Heinemann, 1918. • The City Curious. London: William Heinemann, 1920. • Weird Islands. London: William Heinemann, 1921. • The Love Books of Ovid. London: John Lane The Bodley Head, 1925 – 24 plates. • Marthe and the Madman, trans. Pierre Loving. New York: Covici-Friede, 1928. • Peacocks and Other Mysteries, trans. Frederick Street Hoppin. New York: Edmond Byrne Hackett, 1941. • The House of Forsaken Hope, trans. Donald MacAndrew (from Satan, l'Obscure). London: Fortune Press, 1942.

The authorities additionally record the headings Jean de Boschère, J. Aubertin, Jean de Bosschere, J. Aubertin Bosschere and Jean De Bosschère. His recorded languages were French and English. Other recorded relations include Guy de Bosschère.