Queer Places:
79 Rue du Château, 75014 Paris, France
Jean Boullet born December 12, 1921 in Neuilly-sur-Seine and died in Algeria in Annaba on November 2, 1970, is a french painter, draftsman, illustrator, film critic and writer.
His illustrations range from books by Raymond Radiguet, Boris Vian and Edgar Allan Poe to unabashed homoerotic collections of his own, one of which, Tapis volant (1945), has an introduction by
Jean Cocteau. Openly homosexual, proclaiming himself "painter of male beauty", he multiplied the drawings or paintings of a homoerotic aesthetic quite inspired by that of Jean Cocteau.
Jean Boullet, during his life, met the Tout-Paris which has for names then: Édith Piaf, Michel Déon,
Marie-Laure de Noailles, Jean Cocteau, Juliette Gréco, Jacques Chazot, Piéral (from 1942), Sacha Guitry, Marcel Carné, Roland Lesaffre,
Kenneth Anger, Félix Labisse, Lise Deharme, Michel Laclos, Elliott Stein, Jacques Courtois...
He was also a friend of Max Jacob. A
portrait in Indian ink made by his hand in 1943 representing the Breton poet
wearing the yellow star is now preserved and presented at the Museum of Fine
Arts in Quimper.
Jean Boullet is the son of a cat skin merchant on Avenue d'Italie, Henri Boullet, who commits suicide by hanging. In his childhood, very Catholic, he spent his summers in Isdes, in a house that he kept. He began painting in 1942, mainly portraits..
He became known as a cartoonist and illustrator in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés of the immediate post-war period. The artist illustrates both a book by Daniel-Rops, the Catholic writer (This face that looks at us), as well as the sulphurous work – banned by censorship – by Boris Vian, I will spit on your graves, texts byEdgar Poe, Raymond Asso, poems by Villon, Verlaine. In 1948, he is the author of the sets of the play I will spit on your graves that Boris Vian took from his homonymous novel and that he signed with his real name.
Jean Boullet is also a film critic revering the fantastic and horror films that can then be seen at the Midi-Minuit cinema on the Grands Boulevards. To show the even rarer films he loves, he set up a private film club in his house on Rue Bobillot: the Society of Friends of Bram Stoker. He will also be with Michel Caen, Alain Le Bris and Jean-Claude Romer, the co-founder of the film magazine Midi Minuit Fantastique (1962-1971). This magazine was published by Eric Losfeld. Midi Minuit Fantastique was dedicated to fantasy, horror and science fiction films.
Jean Boullet retired from the editorial staff in 1966. Fundamentally
libertarian, anticlerical, enemy of established orders and personally launched
into a frantic quest for the bizarre and the forbidden, Jean Boullet is also
passionate about many other themes: sexology, illusionism, magic, demonology,
popular mythology... In December 1965, he opened at 79, rue du Château a
bookstore, Le Kiosque, specializing in these themes and in collectible comics.
Riddled with debts, he closed shop in early 1969, and in August, he moved to
Algeria, to Ouargla to run a bookstore there.
On several occasions he has traveled to the Maghreb, notably to Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, but also to Senegal and Sudan, from where he brings back many drawings.
During the summer of 1970, he decided to leave Ouargla for the south, and embark on a trip, while keeping his bookstore. During one of the stages of this journey, in late December, he was discovered in Tébessa, south of Constantine, according to the Algerian police report, hanging from a tree. According to the confidences of the writer
Roger Peyrefitte, Jean Boullet died stabbed to death.
His studio was dispersed on April 23, 1971 in Paris, by Guy Loudmer, Hervé Poulain and Pierre Cornette de Saint Cyr.
Kenneth Anger by Jean Boullet
Jean Marais by Jean Boullet
My published books:
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