French School
Joseph-Félix Bouchor was a French painter who studied in Paris and first exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1878, occasionally working from the studio of Antonio de La Gandara. A decorated artist, he was a medalist at the Universal Exhibitions of 1889 and 1900 and was named a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1900, later becoming an Officer in 1913. Although too old to serve in World War I, Bouchor was commissioned by the Army Museum to document the battlefields. He painted some of the first war works entered into the museum’s collection, depicting the arrival of captured enemy emblems in October 1914. He was later assigned to official missions in Reims, Verdun, and Nancy alongside artists François Flameng and Henry Jacquier, producing scenes from Argonne, Alsace, Artois, Belgium, and Verdun between 1914 and 1917.
After the war, Bouchor sold many of his wartime works independently and embarked on extended travels to Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco, where he was influenced by Orientalist styles. He also worked as a book illustrator. His works are held in numerous public collections, including the Musée d’Orsay, the Musée de l’Armée (which possesses sixteen of his World War I paintings), the Museum of Noyon, the Museum of Vannes, and the Smithsonian, which owns his painting of the first captured flag from the enemy. A retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the Museum of Elbeuf in the summer of 2015.