Paul René Baschet (6 May 1860,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

- 7 August 1949, Paris) was a French journalist; best known as the director of ''

L'Illustration ''L'Illustration'' (; 1843–1944) was a French language, French illustrated weekly newspaper published in Paris. It was founded by Édouard Charton with the first issue published on 4 March 1843, it became the first illustrated newspaper in ...

''.

Biography

He was the eldest son of , an art gallery owner and publisher. His younger brother was the portrait painter,

Marcel Baschet Marcel-André Baschet (5 August 1862 – 28 December 1941) was a French portrait painter, notable for his numerous portraits of the Presidents of the French Third Republic. Biography He was born in Gagny (Seine-et-Oise), the second son of the ...

. After completing his law studies, in 1882, his father entrusted him with managing the gallery, and a series of publications, beginning with the ' (1883), which experimented with color

typography Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...

. Later, in 1885, he became the editor of his father's best known magazine, the ''

Revue Illustrée ''Revue Illustrée'' () was a French language biweekly arts magazine which was published between 1885 and 1912 in Paris, France. History and profile ''Revue Illustrée'' was founded by Ludovic Baschet, an art gallery owner, and was first publish ...

'', a position he held until 1904. That year, the Baschet family acquired ''

'', a newspaper founded in 1843 by

Édouard Charton Édouard Charton (; 11 May 1807 – 27 February 1890) was a French literary figure who founded the magazine ''Le Magasin pittoresque,'' and served as its editor-in-chief for fifty-five years (1833–88). He also served as director of publicat ...

, and René was named its director. In 1922, he joined with fellow journalist, , to create ', a monthly women's magazine."Le jardin des modes (1922-1992)"
by Dominique Veillon, In: ''Vingtième Siècle'', #39, 1993, pp.108-110. He was elected to the

Académie des Beaux-Arts The (; ) is a French learned society based in Paris. It is one of the five academies of the . The current president of the academy (2021) is Alain-Charles Perrot, a French architect. Background The academy was created in 1816 in Paris as a me ...

in 1935, where he took Seat #9 in the "Unattached" section; succeeding

Justin de Selves Justin Germain Casimir de Selves (; 19 July 1848 in Toulouse – 12 January 1934 in Paris) was a French politician. He held an officer rank in the Franco-Prussian war. He was Director-General of Posts and Telegraphs from 1890 to 1896. He becam ...

, who had died the previous year. In 1940 he, his family, and his editorial staff took refuge in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

. Their printing plant in

Bobigny Bobigny () is a commune, or town, in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Bobigny is the prefecture (capital city) of the Seine-Saint-Denis department, as well as the seat of the ...

was destroyed by the German army. Shortly after, he went to

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

, in an attempt to relaunch his publications at the . Later the same year, he and his eldest son, Louis, returned to Paris; doing as much as they could to keep their staff from being under the control of the Occupation authorities. However, after they rejected several

anti-semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

articles submitted by the diplomat,

Jacques de Lesdain Jacques Bouly de Lesdain (4 October 1880 - 1975) was a French aristocrat, lawyer and diplomat. He was the author of several travel books about Asia and political books about Germany. He was the political editor of ''L'Illustration'' and he organis ...

, the German Ambassador,

Otto Abetz Otto Friedrich Abetz (26 March 1903 – 5 May 1958) was a German diplomat, a Nazi official and a convicted war criminal during World War II. Abetz joined the Nazi Party and the SA in the early 1930s later becoming a member of the SS. Abetz pla ...

, intervened to force him upon them as their political editor. After the

Liberation Liberation or liberate may refer to: Film and television * ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War * "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode * "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode Gaming * '' Liberati ...

, Lesdain fled, and was condemned to death in absentia. The Baschets were also accused of being collaborators, but the charges were dismissed. ''L'Illustration'', on the other hand, was found guilty, as a "

juridicial person A juridical person is a legal person that is not a natural person but an organization recognized by law as a fictitious person such as a corporation, government agency, non-governmental organisation, or international organization (such as the Eu ...

", and was ordered to cease publication.Claire Lesage, ''L'Illustration 1843-1944, vie et mort d'un journal'', In: ''Bulletin des Bibliothèques de France'', 1987
Online

References

External links

René Baschet (1860-1949)
listing in the

Bibliothèque Nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

.
Biographical data
@ AGORHA
Biographical data and references
from the Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques @ La France Savante {{DEFAULTSORT:Baschet, Rene 1860 births 1949 deaths French journalists French editors French publishers (people) Journalists from Paris