Paul-Henri Bourguignon

Paul-Henri Bourguignon (1906–1988), was an American visual artist, art critic, writer and journalist; he was born in Brussels, Belgium. He studied painting at the Académie des Beaux-Arts and art history at the Université libre de Bruxelles in Brussels. Between the two world wars Bourguignon traveled through Spain, Corsica, France, Italy, Bosnia, North Africa, and the Caribbean.

In 1944 Bourguignon began working as an art critic for Le Phare, Brussels' daily newspaper, and in 1947 convinced the paper to send him to Haiti, where he wrote travel articles for the paper and photographed the Haitian people. In May 1947, he met his future wife, the anthropologist Erika Eichhorn, who was doing anthropological fieldwork in Haiti.

In July 1948 Bourguignon left Haiti for Peru, but returned to the US in 1950 to marry Erika, in Columbus, Ohio, where she had accepted a teaching position in the Ohio State University's Anthropology Department. During the next 38 years Bourguignon painted and sketched full time, primarily remembered scenes from his previous world travels.

Most of Bourguignon's art consists of people, both individuals and groups, and landscapes; later in life however he began producing abstractions. Although he worked in gouache in the 1950s, he later turned to acrylics. In addition to paintings Bourguignon produced pencil, pastel, and ink drawings. His work has been described as timeless, passionate and visionary.

Since the 1960s Bourguignon's art has been exhibited in more than 40 solo shows, primarily in Ohio but also in New York City, Sedona, Arizona, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. His art was used to illustrate Edward Lense's Via Crucis: The Way of the Cross.

Bourguignon died September 22, 1988, in Columbus, Ohio. After his death, the Ohio History Center in Columbus recreated his art studio, which is on display as a permanent exhibit.

Public collections Bourguignon's work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Ixelles in Brussels, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Richard Ross Museum of Art, Artist Archives of the Western Reserve, Columbus Museum of Art, Southern Ohio Museum, Ohio History Connection, and Springfield Museum of Art. His photographs are archived at Ohio State University.