Along the Malibu: The Color Serigraphs and Art of Paul Dubosclard

 

Just received a copy of this book.  If you're a collector of California postcards, or you've looked through southern California cards at a show you've most likely seen some of these serigraph cards.

I had always thought the artist was Margaret Sheehan, since most of the cards are identified as "Published by M. A. Sheehan, Topanga California" on the back. But these distinctive cards are actually attributed to Paul Dubosclard.

Although many are unsigned, a handful have a P. Dubosclard name or stamp on the front:

  

Many cards also have hand-written titles in pencil, presumably by Dubosclard.

The bulk of the book is a catalog of all known works by Dubosclard, highlighting details about many individual cards and the series (US Presidents, State Flags, and Zodiac).  So this serves as a "checklist" for collectors, but also shows a beautifully artistic compilation of different variations of the same serigraphs, as well as showing other similar postcard views.

The first section of the book details Dubosclard's life & career as an artist around Topanga.  And for those interested in the production process itself, there are details on the artistic & silkscreen processes used to create the original art and produce these cards.

If you've ever wanted to know more about these serigraph postcards from the Topanga-Malibu area this book provides a wealth of research for the serious deltiologist or casual art collector.