Écriture Apogée de l’Humanité

The piece is titled “Écriture Apogée de l’Humanité” (“Writing: The Apex of Humanity”), dated 16 July 1988 (“Au jour ensoleillé du 16.7.1988”). It forms part of Bouabré’s larger lifelong project, in which he sought to translate universal human knowledge, morality, and spirituality into a visual written language. His works often combine a simple, direct drawing with text carefully framed around the edges—both poetic and documentary in tone.

In this image, Bouabré depicts a seated, semi-nude figure holding a yellow tablet or scroll inscribed with mysterious marks—symbols of learning, communication, or revelation. Around the figure float colorful signs, geometric forms, and small motifs (birds, stars, tools, the sun, crosses), representing the diversity of human knowledge and the unity of all creation. The inscription along the border — “Des dessins et des traits des signes” (“Drawings, lines, and signs”) — points to Bouabré’s belief that writing and drawing are the highest forms of human expression, bridges between divine inspiration and earthly understanding.

This drawing exemplifies his signature approach: a synthesis of ethnography, mysticism, and humanism. Created after his invention of a Bété syllabary (an alphabet of over 400 signs to record his people’s language), the piece expresses his lifelong quest to make knowledge accessible to all humanity.

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1 original drawing on cardboard, 30 x 30 cm, hand signed by Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, 1988