Acne Paper Palais Royal in Paris is dedicating its latest exhibition to the women who defined the world of fashion illustrator René Bouché , gathering 70 portrait drawings from the René Bouché Studio Archive for the first time since 1957 .
Titled “The Women of René Bouché” , the show runs from 9 April to 7 June 2026 at 124 Galerie de Valois, 75001 Paris , with opening hours from Thursday to Saturday, 11 am–7 pm , and Sunday, 12–7 pm . A Rediscovered Archive of Mid Century Femininity Curated by Dean Rhys-Morgan ,
the exhibition draws on a long-unseen archive that had remained in private hands for decades, much of it preserved in the home René Bouché shared with his wife, Denise Lawson Johnston .
The portraits, many of which last appeared publicly at Bouché’s final show at the Alexander Iolas Gallery in 1957 , capture mid 20th century femininity with a mix of elegance, wit, and psychological acuity that made him one of Vogue’s defining illustrators of the era.
By bringing these works together in Palais Royal , Acne Paper positions Bouché not just as a fashion footnote but as a sharp observer of character whose drawings sit somewhere between society portraiture and modernist graphic art.
The Women Behind the Lines At the heart of the show is Denise Lawson‑Johnston , a model, editor, and Bouché’s wife, who appears throughout the drawings as both muse and anchor. After his death, she devoted herself to preserving his legacy, keeping the studio archive intact, and making a project like this possible…
