The art of Mario Laboccetta

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Tales of Hoffmann (1932).

Another great illustrator about whom information is scant; I need better reference books, the web is often no use at all. Monsieur Thombeau posted the cover to Laboccetta’s edition of Les Fleurs du Mal (below) which had me looking around for other work by the artist. VTS has pages from a 1932 edition of Tales of Hoffmann while more of the Baudelaire pictures can be found on various bookdealers’ sites. As to the artist, we’re told he was an Italian living in Paris, and this French site has a small list of his illustrated editions. It’s frustrating to see that Les Paradis Artificiels is among these; what did he make of Baudelaire’s opium visions?

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Tales of Hoffmann (1932).

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Tales of Hoffmann (1932).

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Tales of Hoffmann (1932).

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Tales of Hoffmann (1932).

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Tales of Hoffmann (1932).

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Les Fleurs du Mal (1933).

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Les Fleurs du Mal (1933).

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Les Fleurs du Mal (1933).

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Les Fleurs du Mal (1933).

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Les Fleurs du Mal (1933).

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Poster design (1948).

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
The illustrators archive

Previously on { feuilleton }
The Tale of Giulietta
Carlos Schwabe’s Fleurs du Mal

10 thoughts on “The art of Mario Laboccetta”

  1. Aren’t they great? A shame there isn’t more of his work around. Another good Thombeau find, thanks!

  2. The style itself is very similar to that of Rosaleen Norton, though Labocetta seems more developed and in control. The other and more prominent difference being Laboccetta seems more explicitly decadent from what I’ve seen here, and Norton lay firmly within what would be called occult.

  3. Hi Melissa. The book dates from 1932 so may well be out of copyright in most countries by now. But I’ve no idea when Labocetta died so wouldn’t know whether his artwork generally is copyright-free. Matters aren’t helped by the way there’s little detailed information about him anywhere.

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