LE COQUILLAGE – 1962

Pencil on paper
50,5 x 29,5 cm / 19.9 x 11.6 in.
Signed “Bernard Buffet” lower right

Certificate of the Galerie Maurice Garnier

BERNARD BUFFET AUJOURD’HUI
SOLO SHOW
MAY 12 – JUNE 30, 2022

BERNARD BUFFET
1948-1956
Roger Dutilleul l’œil d’un collectionneur
SOLO SHOW
MAY 17 – JULY 15, 2017

BERNARD BUFFET AUJOURD’HUI

Catalog 68 pages – Text by Nicolas Buffet

BERNARD BUFFET
1948-1956 – Roger Dutilleul l’œil d’un collectionneur

Published by the Galerie Diane de Polignac
Exhibition Catalog
French & English – 64 pages – feb. 2017

Presentation of the exhibition “Bernard Buffet Aujourd’hui”, by Nicolas Buffet
From May 12 to June 30, 2022

“Bernard Buffet, secrets d’atelier”, 1999
Film by Nicolas Buffet, son of the artist.

Bernard Buffet & The bestiary, an analysis by Astrid de Monteverde

Bernard Buffet, Printmaker, an analysis by Mathilde Gubanski

“Bernard Buffet la Baume”, an analysis by Mathilde Gubanski

“Bernard Buffet New York”, an analysis by Mathilde Gubanski

“Bernard Buffet’s marine themes”, an analysis by Mathilde Gubanski

Bernard Buffet: an early painter’s youth and training

Bernard Buffet was born on July 10^th, 1928 in Paris. In 1943 at just 15 years old – an exceptional case – he entered the Paris École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, where he stayed for three years. A young prodigy, the artist Bernard Buffet exhibited for the first time in 1946: at the Salon des Moins de Trente Ans (Salon for the under thirty), organized in the Galerie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He was just 18 years old.

The dazzling recognition of the young painter Bernard Buffet

From the following year, exhibitions followed at a fast pace: Bernard Buffet participated in the Salon des Indépendants (1947 and 1948), at the Librairie des Impressions d’Art (1947), again at the Salon des Moins de Trente ans (1947), at the Salon d’Automne and at the Salon de Mai (1948). In 1947, the Musée National d’Art Moderne of Paris (now known as the Pompidou Centre) bought one of his paintings, Nature-morte au poulet (Still Life with Chicken); he was barely twenty years old. In 1948, Emmanuel David of the Galerie Drouant-David, offered him an exclusive contract. The exclusivity was later shared with Maurice Garnier. The same year, the painter Bernard Buffet won the prestigious Prix Critique of the Galerie Saint-Placide, jointly with the painter Bernard Lorjou. In February 1949, his first solo exhibition was held at the Galerie Drouant-David.

From 1950 to 1958, the artist painter Bernard Buffet was in an intimate relationship with Pierre Bergé. At that time, and thanks to his friend Jean Giono, he had a cabin in Manosque, and then moved to Nanse in the same region, where he lived in an old barn and painted three large paintings Horreur de la guerre (Horror of War) (1954).

During the 1950s, Bernard Buffet created several drypoint illustrations: the Les chants de Maldoror by the Comte de Lautréamont (1952), Recherche de la Pureté by Jean Giono (1953) and on this occasion, Louis Aragon published Lettres Françaises an article “Le paysage a 4 siècles et Bernard Buffet 24 ans” (Landscape is 4 centuries old, Bernard Buffet, 24 years old)”. Buffet also provided drypoint illustrations for Jean Cocteau’s La Voix Humaine (1957).

From 1952, the painter Bernard Buffet exhibited annually at the Galerie Drouant-David and with Maurice Garnier at the Galerie Visconti, choosing a theme each year. From 1957, these thematic shows were concentrated at the Galerie David et Garnier – the two dealers were partners for 11 years, and then from 1968, he was with the Galerie Maurice Garnier. A large number of subjects were chosen, such as Les Nus (Nudes) (1954 and 1980) Horreur de la guerre (Horror of War) (1955),  Le Cirque (The Circus) (1956), Paysages de Paris (Landscapes of Paris) (1957), New York (1959), Portrait d’Annabel (Portraits of Annabel) (1961), Ecorchés (Skinned) (1965), La Corrida (1967), Les Plages (Beaches) (1968), Les Folles (The Mad Women) (1971), Le Japon (Japan) (1981), Les Clowns Musiciens (Clown Musicians) (1992), Mes Singes (My Monkeys)(1999)…

Bernard Buffet exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1952 and again in 1956, when a room was devoted to him at the French pavilion.

In 1955, the painter came first in the referendum organized by the magazine Connaissance des Arts to designate the ten best post-war painters.

In 1958, a first retrospective about the painter Bernard Buffet’s work was held at the Galerie Charpentier in Paris. On 12 December, he married Annabel Schwob, a singer, actress and writer in Ramatuelle, who then became Annabel Buffet. They adopted three children: Virginie, Danielle and Nicolas Buffet.

The artist Bernard Buffet also worked in the dramatic arts, and painted models for stage sets and costumes for several ballets: La Chambre (The Bedroom) in 1955 (lyrics by Georges Simenon, music by Georges Auric) for the Ballets de Paris Roland Petit, Le Rendez-vous manqué in 1958 (lyrics by Françoise Sagan, directed by Roger Vadim), Patron in 1959 (lyrics by Marcel Aymé, music by Guy Béart) again for the Ballets Roland Petit and Carmen in 1962 (music by Georges Bizet, directed by Louis Ducreux) for the Opéra de Marseille. Later, in 1967, for the Opéra de Paris, he painted a model of the stage curtain, the sets and costumes for Le grand cirque (The Great Circus) (music by Aram Khachaturian, choreography by Serge Lifar), and models for the sets and costumes for Istar (music by Vincent d’Indy, choreography by Serge Lifar).

In his home at Château l’Arc near Aix-en-Provence, Bernard Buffet made a group of paintings on the Life of Christ for the decoration of the castle’s chapel in 1961. Ten years later, asked to do so by Monseigneur Pasquale Macchi, the secretary to Pope Paul VI, Bernard Buffet will donate these paintings to the Vatican Museum.

In 1962, he was given the award of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. The same year, he created 16 etchings for an illustrated book of Charles Baudelaire’s poem Saint-Cast, souvenirs d’enfance (Saint-Cast, Childhood memories).

Bernard Buffet’s international recognition

The following year, a retrospective exhibition of Bernard Buffet’s work was held in Japan, at the Museum of Modern Art of Tokyo and the Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto.

During the 1960s-1970s, the artist continued to create illustrations: india ink drawings for Toxique by Françoise Sagan (1964), colour lithographs for Herbier by Louise de Vilmorin (1966), and created new illustrated books: Mon Cirque with 44 colour lithograph illustrations (1968), Jeux de Dames, with twenty lithographs and poems by Verlaine, Rimbaud and Baudelaire (1970), and L’Enfer de Dante, with eleven drypoint engravings (1976).

During the 1970s, Bernard Buffet received many honours: he was awarded the Légion d’honneur in 1971, which was presented to him by Maurice Druon. In 1973, the Bernard Buffet Museum, entirely devoted to the painter’s work, was opened at Surugadaira in Japan, founded by M. Kiichiro Okano, a banker and great connoisseur of Bernard Buffet’s work. In 1974, he was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts; he was barely 45 years old.

At the end of the 1980s, he moved to his domain at La Baume near Tourtour in Provence.

Major retrospectives regarding Bernard Buffet’s work were held abroad during the 1990s: in Russia at the Pushkin Museum and the Hermitage in 1991, in Germany at the Documenta-Halle in Kassel in 1994, in Japan with a travelling retrospective (Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Akita, Hakodate and Obihiro) in 1995.

Suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, no longer able to paint, the artist Bernard Buffet committed suicide on 4^th  October 1999 at the dawn of the new millennium.

In February 2000, the Galerie Maurice Garnier, exhibited the final theme of Bernard Buffet’s work: La Mort (Death).

© Diane de Polignac Gallery
Translation: Jane Mac Avock

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