Lucien BOUCHER

Mr. Planisphere!
Lucien Boucher is a French painter, engraver, poster artist and draftsman.
He studied ceramics at the Sèvres school before being sent to the front in 1914. Taken prisoner, he begins to draw. At the end of the war, he is hired as a cartoonist by the humorous weekly magazine "Le Rire".
From 1934 to 1962, he designed posters and leaflets for Air France and produced his first planispheres.
He then created a new genre by drawing up illustrated world maps showing all the routes of the flights served by Air France.
He embellished his maps with monuments, historical figures, genre scenes and emblematic animals. He also incorporated symbolic elements such as the signs of the zodiac and mythological figures by superimposing his planispheres with maps of the sky.

His flamboyant posters for the Orient - Far East, one dating from 1937, the other from 1946, with their bright colours and sumptuous designs are pure masterpieces.
His work for Air France is particularly appreciated; he became "Monsieur planisphère"!
Illustrator of the "plus grand réseau du monde" (largest network in the world, slogan of 1956), Lucien Boucher was in the service of Air France "dans tous les ciels" (in all skies, slogan of 1935).