Gus Bofa

Gus Bofa, whose real name was Gustave Blanchot, was born in Brive-la-gaillarde, France, in 1883. He started his career when his first illustration was published by magazine Sourire, when he was fifteen years old. He went to study Fine Arts in Paris, where he was also involved in several sports, like boxing. From 1905 until 1914 Gus Bofa was co-director of the Office d'Art et Publicité and mainly involved with making posters for magazines Le Rire and Sourire. He also published in magazines like La Joie des Enfants and L'Illustré à Cinq Centimes.

In 1914, the First World War started and Gus Bofa was drafted. He nearly lost his leg, and returned to Paris to work for La Baïonette, where he made several comics and illustrations, such as 'Chez les Toubibs', which relates his stay in the army hospital.

After the war, Gus Bofa illustrated numerous of the grand literary classics and he was a literary critic for magazine Crapouillot, where he had his own column between 1922 and 1939. After the second World War, Bofa's productivity slowed down, and he died in 1968 at the age of 85.