Ambroise Vollard—gallerist, publisher, and friend to Jarry—wrote comedic texts featuring Ubu during and after World War I. A symbol of collective tyranny and of the mindless mob, Vollard’s Ubu appears in colonial settings, hospitals, and battlefields. To illustrate his series of publications, Vollard called upon artist friends with radically different aesthetics: Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947), Jean Puy (1876–1960), and Georges Rouault (1871–1958).
Ambroise Vollard (1867–1939), Le Père Ubu à l’aviation. Cover illustration by Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947), (Paris: Éditions Georges Crès et cie, 1918). The Morgan Library & Museum, gift of Robert J. and Linda Klieger Stillman, 2017. PML 197109. © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.