Bernard Buffet

Bernard Buffet

Bernard Buffet in front of his studio in Tourtour
Born Bernard Buffet
(1928-07-10)10 July 1928
Paris, France
Died 4 October 1999(1999-10-04) (aged 71)
Tourtour, France
Nationality French
Education École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts
Known for Painting, Drawing, Printmaking
Movement Expressionism
Awards

Member of the Salon d'Automne, 1947
Member of the Société des Artistes Indépendants, 1947
Prix de la Critique, 1948
Prix Puvis de Chavannes, 1950
Officer of the Légion d'Honneur,1973

Member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, 1974

Bernard Buffet (French: [byfɛ]; 10 July 1928 – 4 October 1999) was a French painter of Expressionism and a member of the anti-abstract art group "L'homme Témoin" (the Witness-Man).[1]

Life and work

Buffet was born in Paris, France, and studied art there at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (National School of the Fine Arts) and worked in the studio of the painter Eugène Narbonne. Among his classmates were Maurice Boitel and Louis Vuillermoz.

Sustained by the picture-dealer Maurice Garnier, Buffet produced religious pieces, landscapes, portraits and still-lifes. In 1946, he had his first painting shown, a self-portrait, at the Salon des Moins de Trente Ans at the Galerie Beaux-Arts. He had at least one major exhibition every year. Buffet illustrated "Les Chants de Maldoror" written by Comte de Lautréamont in 1952. In 1955, he was awarded the first prize by the magazine Connaissance des arts, which named the 10 best post-war artists. In 1958, at the age of 30, the first retrospective of his work was held at the Galerie Charpentier.

Pierre Bergé was Buffet's live-in lover until Bergé[2] left Buffet for Yves Saint Laurent.

On 12 December 1958, Buffet married the writer and actress Annabel Schwob. His daughter Virginie was born in 1962, and later, daughter Danielle in 1963. His son Nicolas, was born in 1973, the same year that he was named "Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur".

On 23 November 1973, the Bernard Buffet Museum was founded by Kiichiro Okano, in Surugadaira, Japan.

At the request of the French postal administration in 1978, he designed a stamp depicting the Institut et le Pont des Arts – on this occasion the Post Museum arranged a retrospective of his works.[3]

Buffet created more than 8,000 paintings and many prints as well.

Buffet committed suicide[4] at his home in Tourtour, southern France, on 4 October 1999. He was suffering from Parkinson's disease and was no longer able to work. Police said that Buffet died around 4 p.m after putting his head in a plastic bag attached around his neck with tape.

Theme exhibitions (selection)

Femme avec un chapeau roseby Buffet, 1967, on a 1986 Yugoslavian stamp

Awards

Collections (selection)

Cultural references

Film

References

  1. "DuMont's Künstlerlexikon", DuMont Buchverlag Köln, Cologne, 1997
  2. Bernard Buffet: Return of the 'poser' – Features – Art. The Independent (16 March 2009). Retrieved on 26 July 2014.
  3. MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, "Bernard Buffet Maler Painter Peintre", Brochure, 2008, April
  4. "Bernard Buffet: Return of the 'poser'". The Independent. 16 March 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2009.

External links

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