Frédéric Bruly Bouabré
Born 1923
Frédéric Bruly Bouabré was born in 1923 in Zéprégühé, Ivory Coast. He passed away at the age of 91 in 2014 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Bouabré was among the first Ivorians to be educated by the French colonial government. In 1948 he had a vision, which directly influenced much of his later work. He created hundreds of small drawings with a ballpoint pen and colored pencils while working as a clerk in various government offices, and these drawings as a whole comprise a project titled World Knowledge—an encyclopedia of universal knowledge and experience. Bouabré also created a 448-letter, universal Bété syllabary, which he used to transcribe the oral tradition of his people, the Bétés. This visual language is recorded through a set of approximately 1,000 small cards, each bearing monosyllabic pictograms, symbolic imagery, and text, with Bouabré’s commentary on life and history. His work was featured in the 1989 exhibition Magiciens de la Terre at the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Grande Halle at the Parc de la Villette in Paris. His work was recently featured in the Ivory Coast Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013).
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ArtCollection.io is a cloud based solution that gives you access to your collection anywhere you have a secure internet connection. In addition to a beautiful web dashboard, we also provide users with a suite of mobile applications that allow for data synchronization and offline browsing. Feel confident in your ability to access your art collection anywhere around the world at anytime. Download ArtCollection.io today!

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Frédéric Bruly Bouabré
Born 1923
Frédéric Bruly Bouabré was born in 1923 in Zéprégühé, Ivory Coast. He passed away at the age of 91 in 2014 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Bouabré was among the first Ivorians to be educated by the French colonial government. In 1948 he had a vision, which directly influenced much of his later work. He created hundreds of small drawings with a ballpoint pen and colored pencils while working as a clerk in various government offices, and these drawings as a whole comprise a project titled World Knowledge—an encyclopedia of universal knowledge and experience. Bouabré also created a 448-letter, universal Bété syllabary, which he used to transcribe the oral tradition of his people, the Bétés. This visual language is recorded through a set of approximately 1,000 small cards, each bearing monosyllabic pictograms, symbolic imagery, and text, with Bouabré’s commentary on life and history. His work was featured in the 1989 exhibition Magiciens de la Terre at the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Grande Halle at the Parc de la Villette in Paris. His work was recently featured in the Ivory Coast Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013).
Learn More
Sign up for a FREE account today!
Sign Up
Digitizing your art collection allows you to access it anywhere around the world.
A computer, tablet, and phone showing the native ArtCollection.io applications.

Available on any device, mac, pc & more

ArtCollection.io is a cloud based solution that gives you access to your collection anywhere you have a secure internet connection. In addition to a beautiful web dashboard, we also provide users with a suite of mobile applications that allow for data synchronization and offline browsing. Feel confident in your ability to access your art collection anywhere around the world at anytime. Download ArtCollection.io today!

App Store button to download iOS application.
Google Play Button to download Android application.