bernard buffet.pdf

8/10/2019 bernard buffet.pdf

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Avant-propos

Des clowns mlancoliques, des paysages sombres etplats, des portraits anguleux et crisps, des naturesmortes austres, le tout, excut avec des rseaux

de lignes droites et sches dun noir sombre, un chroma-tisme rduit, une prsence prgnante du vide : le styleBernard Buffet sest impos, il est identifiable entre tous.

Bernard Buffet est lun des peintres franais les plus clbresdu XXesicle. Il est n en 1928 Paris o il grandit. Ds lgede 15 ans, il entre lcole Nationale Suprieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris. 19 ans, il est remarqu par le marchanddart Emmanuel David. Il est sous contrat avec la galerieparisienne Drouant-David et Maurice Garnier puis avec la

galerie David & Garnier. Le clbre marchand Maurice Garnierreprsentera ensuite lartiste de manire exclusive jusqu lafin de sa vie. vingt ans, il a dj eu sa premire expositionpersonnelle et reu le Grand Prix de la Critique, et ds lors,son succs est fulgurant. La gloire est immdiate. Sa cotesenvole, des expositions et rtrospectives de son uvre sontorganises dans le monde entier. En plus de peintures etdessins, il ralise des affiches, ill ustrations, dcors de thtre,lithographies, timbres poste et du jour au lendemain,il devient millionnaire. Il est lu membre de lAcadmie desBeaux-Arts, section Peinture, en 1974 seulement 46 ans,un muse lui est ddi au Japon, son uvre fait lobjet deplusieurs monographies et il reoit de nombreux prix et dis-tinctions (en 1955, premire place au rfrendum organispar la revue Connaissance des Arts, un an plus tard, le PrixAntral et en mai 1971, il est nomm Officier de la LgiondHonneur et Officier des Arts et des Lettres).

Amant de Pierre Berg pendant 8 ans qui le quitterapour Yves Saint Laurent, il rencontre et pouse en 1958,Annabel Schwob, mannequin, chanteuse et crivainefranaise, figure de lge dor de Saint-Germain-des-Prs,quil portraiturera inlassablement de leur rencontre jusqula fin de sa vie. Le duo, fameux, sera trs mdiatis.

Ds le dbut de sa carrire, il devient une icne populaire,il est adul du grand public, et est tout la fois admir etdcri par la critique et ses contemporains. Mais on parle delui, et beaucoup. En bien et en mal. Bacon, Warhol, Giono,Aragon, Cocteau, Druon et Simenon le considrent commeun gnie. Dans le monde de lart, cest la guerre entre les

figuratifs et les abstraits et le succs commercial fulgurantjeune peintre figuratif au genre nouveau et drangeantdes jaloux, surtout en France. Bernard Buffet mne unede chteau, roule en Rolls et cest un singulier paradoxe pun artiste au style si dpouill et sombre. Mais ltrangsurtout aux tats-Unis, au Royaume-Uni et au Japon, ssuccs ne tarira jamais. Andy Warhol dira dailleurs ssujet dans une interview, quil pensait que Buffet tait savis lartiste franais contemporain le plus important Francis Bacon reconnatra, qu il avait t marqu par nus . La France ne lhonorera vraiment quaprs sa men donnant notamment son nom une cole et une de Paris en 2009, et en ddiant deux salles son u

au Muse dArt Moderne de Paris en 2012.Ce qui est remarquable chez Bernard Buffet, cest qrestera fidle son style tout au long de sa carrire, critiques ne latteindront pas. Ses uvres sont fortpoignantes, et bouleversantes : lamour et la haine y s

judicieusement mls. Elles sont parfois qualifies de mrabilistes mais en ralit, ce peintre peignait ce quil voydune faon percutante, acre et efficace. Il naimait ple joli et il peignait avec une telle intensit de sentimeque ses uvres les voquent. Il affirmait : La peintuon nen parle pas, on ne lanalyse pas, on l a ressent

Annabel disait de lui : il est entr en peinture commeentre en religion, il a trouv une terre dasile, son atelieAtteint de la maladie de Parkinson qui le diminue, il squil ne pourra bientt plus peindre et il met fin ses jole 4 octobre 1999 dans sa proprit du Var.

Les uvres de Bernard Buffet font partie des plus prtigieuses collections publiques et prives dans le monentier et cest avec un immense plaisir quOpera GallGenve rend aujourdhui hommage cet artiste franincontournable avec une exposition regroupant une trtaine duvres iconiques, une exposition riche et pledmotions.

GILLES DYAN JORDAN LAH

Fondateur et Prsident DirectOpera Gallery Group Opera Gallery Gen

G

alerieMauriceGarnier


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Foreword

Melancholic clowns, dark and flat landscapes, sharp-featured and tense portraits, austere still lifes, allof them executed with a network of straight and

sharp black lines, a narrow colour range, an overwhelmingvoid: this defines Bernard Buffet style, it stands out onits own.

Bernard Buffet is one of the most famous French paintersof the 20thCentury. He was born in 1928 in Paris wherehe grew up. At the early age of 15, he is admitted at thecole Nationale Suprieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Whenhe turns 19, he is noticed by the art dealer EmmanuelDavid. He is under contract with the Parisian art gallery

Drouant-David and Maurice Garnier and later on with thegallery David & Garnier. The renowned art dealer MauriceGarnier will be the sole agent of the artist until his death.When Buffet is 20, he already has had his first solo showand been awarded the Grand Prix de la Critique. Fromthat time his success dazzles. He becomes a super star.His prices soar, exhibits and retrospectives of his work areorganised worldwide. As well as paintings and drawings,he creates posters, illustrations, theatre sets, lithographs,postal stampsand overnight he becomes a millionaire.He is the youngest to be elected at the Acadmie desBeaux-Arts in 1974 at the age of 46, a museum showinghis work opens in Japan, his work is the subject of nume-rous monographs and he receives a number of awardsand prizes (in 1955, first prize of the French magazineConnaissance des Arts, a year later, the Prix Antral andhe becomes Officier de la Legion dHonneur and Officierdes Arts et des Lettres in 1974).

For 8 years he is Pierre Bergs lover. Berg will eventuallyleave him for Yves Saint Laurent. In 1958, he meets andmarries Annabel Schwob, a French model, singer andauthor and a figure of the golden era of Saint-Germain-des-Prs. He will tirelessly paint her, from the day they meetto the day he dies. The media coverage of this famousduo is huge.

He will be a popular icon from the beginning of his career,idolized by the public and admired as well as denigrated bythe critic and his contemporaries. But he is talked about,and a lot, in a good way as well as in a bad way. Bacon,Warhol, Giono, Aragon, Cocteau, Druon and Simenon see

him as a genius. In the art world, there is a war goingbetween figurative and abstract artists and the overnisuccess of the young figurative artist with the unsettnew style makes people jealous, especially in FrancBernard Buffet lives like a king, drives a Rolls Royce ait is a singular paradox for an artist whose genre is bare and dark. Nevertheless, abroad and especially in United States, in the United Kingdom and in Japan, success endures. Andy Warhol will actually say duringinterview that he thought that Bernard Buffet was the mimportant French contemporary artist and Francis Bacwill admit that he was very touched by the artists nudFrance will eventually honour him but only after his dea

naming a school and a Parisian street after him in 20and dedicating two rooms to his work at the MuseumModern Art in Paris in 2012.

What is remarkable with Bernard Buffet is that he stay faithful to his style throughout his career and tcritics wont affect him. His works are strong, moving aoverwhelming: love and hate mingle judiciously. They sometimes qualified as sordid but in reality, this artist jpainted what he saw in a striking, biting and effectmanner. He didnt like pretty and he painted with suintense feelings that his work evoked them. He usedsay, You dont talk about painting, you dont analyseyou just feel it.

Annabel spoke about him: He entered painting like oenters religion, he found a sanctuary, his studio. Whhe is diagnosed with Parkinsons disease and he realithat soon he wont be able to paint anymore, he commsuicide on October 4th1999 in his property in the Vregion of France.

Works by Bernard Buffet are part of the most prestigioprivate and public collections in the world and it with grpleasure that Opera Gallery Geneva honours one of tgreatest French artists with an exhibition presenting o29 of his paintings; an exhibition rich and full of emoti

GILLES DYAN JORDAN LAH

Founder and Chairman DirecOpera Gallery Group Opera Gallery Gen


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Le Port de La Rochelle, 1950Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 50

Mixed media on paper laid on canvas

48,5 x 64 cm - 19.1 x 25.2 in.

Provenance

Private collection, Germany

Certificate

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity


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Fleurs des champs dans un verre, 1951Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 51

Oil on canvas

65,3 x 50,2 cm - 25.7 x 19.8 in.

Provenance

Galerie Drouant-David, Paris

Private collection, France

Certificate



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Profil de femme, 1953Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 53

Pencil and crayon on paper

65 x 50 cm - 25.6 x 19.7 in.

Provenance


Certificate



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Le Sacr Cur de Montmartre, 1958Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 58

Oil on canvas

65 x 46 cm - 25.6 x 18.1 in.

Provenance

Galerie David & Garnier, Paris

Herman C. Goldsmith, New York

Private collection, USA

Certificate



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Annabel en blue jeans, 1960Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 1960 Le 12 Dcembre

Oil on canvas

130 x 97 cm - 51.2 x 38.2 in.

Provenance

Galerie Maurice Garnier, Paris

Certificate



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Nu allong sur la plage, 1960Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 60

Oil and gouache on paper

mounted on canvas

76 x 106 cm - 29.9 x 41.7 in.

Provenance


Galerie Ferrero, Geneva

Private collection, Nagoya

Certificate

This work is accompanied by

a certificate of authenticity


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Pavots rouges et jaunes, delphiniums bleus, 1964Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 64

Oil on canvas

130 x 82 cm - 51.2 x 32.3 in.

Provenance

Galerie David & Garnier, Paris (No. 33P)

Wally Findlay Galleries, Chicago

Sale: Christies New York, Nov. 8, 1995, lot 300

Private collection

Private collection, Europe

Certificate



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Le Caf Barbe Montmartre, 1967Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 67

Oil on canvas

97 x 130 cm - 38.2 x 51.2 in.

Provenance


Manhattan Gallery, Tokyo

Corporate collection, Japan

Certificate

This work is accompanied by a certificate

of authenticity


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Quiberon, bateau quai, 1973Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 1973

Oil on canvas

89 x 130 cm - 35 x 51.2 in.

Provenance

Private collection

Certificate




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La Caravelle, 1977Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 1977

Oil on canvas

130 x 162 cm - 51.2 x 63.8 in.

Provenance

Private collection

Certificate




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Autoportrait 18, 1981Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 1981

Oil on canvas

116 x 89 cm - 45.7 x 35 in.

Provenance


Certificate



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Japonaises, 1981Signed Bernard Buffet

Watercolour, India ink and pencil on paper

65 x 50 cm - 25.6 x 19.7 in.

Provenance

Sale: Mr. Charbonneaux, Paris, March 22, 1988, lot 58

Private collection, Paris

Exhibited

Paris, Galerie Maurice Garnier, Bernard Buffet et le Japon, Feb.-March 1981

Certificate



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Venise, la Salute, 1986Signed Bernard Buffet

Gouache, pen and brush and India ink on card

49,7 x 64,9 cm - 19.6 x 25.5 in.

Provenance

Galerie David & Garnier, Paris (No. 86B)

Certificate


of authenticity


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La Baume, fentre ouverte sur la fontaine, 1987Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 1987

Oil on canvas

130 x 89 cm - 51.2 x 35 in.

Provenance

Galerie Tamnaga, Tokyo

Certificate



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Officier dEmpire IV, 1987Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 1987

Oil on canvas

116 x 73 cm - 45.7 x 28.7 in.

Provenance


Certificate



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La Baume, la commode aux vases chinois, 1987Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 1987

Oil on canvas

73 x 116 cm - 28.7 x 45.7 in.

Provenance

Galerie Tamnaga, Osaka

Certificate


of authenticity


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La Sainte-Chapelle, 1988Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 1988

Oil on canvas

195 x 114 cm - 76.8 x 44.9 in.

Provenance



Manhattan Gallery, Tokyo

Certificate



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Le Mtro arien et le boulevard Rochechouart,mtro Jaurs, 1989Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 1989

Oil on canvas

113,5 x 145,7 cm - 44.7 x 57.4 in.

Provenance



Corporate collection, Japan

Certificate


of authenticity


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Clown au petit chapeau jaune, 1989Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 1989

Oil on canvas

100 x 81 cm - 39.4 x 31.9 in.

Provenance


Private collection, Japan

Private collection

Certificate



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Le Val Andr, 1990Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 1990

Oil on canvas

89 x 130 cm - 35 x 51.2 in.

Provenance


Certificate




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Lcluse, 1990Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 1990

Oil on canvas

97 x 146 cm - 38.2 x 57.5 in.

Provenance

Private collection

Certificate




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La Mairie, 1990Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 1990

Oil on canvas

81 x 116 cm - 31.9 x 45.7 in.

Provenance


Certificate




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Fleurs dans un pichet, 1991Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 1991

Oil on canvas

73 x 54 cm - 28.7 x 21.3 in.

Provenance


Certificate



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Le Yacht bleu, 1992Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 1992

Oil on canvas

97 x 146 cm - 38.2 x 57.5 in.

Provenance


Certificate




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Le grand bouquet, 1995Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 1995

Oil on canvas

146 x 114 cm - 57.5 x 44.9 in.

Provenance

Private collection

Certificate



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Armes, 1997Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 1997

Oil on canvas

81 x 116 cm - 31.9 x 45.7 in.

Provenance

Private collection

Certificate




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Nature morte aux fleurs, 1999Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 1999

Oil on canvas

73 x 100 cm - 28.7 x 39.4 in.

Provenance

Private collection

Certificate




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Curs de Marie, 1999Signed and dated Bernard Buffet 1999

Oil on canvas

73 x 54 cm - 28.7 x 21.3 in.

Provenance

Private collection

Certificate



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Selected Exhibitions and Retrospectives1958 Bernard Buffet at the Galerie Charpentier in Paris, France1958 Bernard Buffet at the Institut Franais of Berlin, Germany1959 Bernard Buffet at the Casino of Knokke-le-Zoute, Belgium1963 Bernard Buffet at the Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, Japan1969 Bernard Buffet at the Muse Unterlinden in Colmar, France1977 Bernard Buffet at the Gemeentemuseum of Wieger Deurne, Holland1978 Bernard Buffet at the Muse de la Poste of Paris, France1985 Bernard Buffet at the Rfectoire des Jacobins of Toulouse, France1987 Bernard Buffet at the Odakyu Museum in Tokyo, Japan1991 Bernard Buffet at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, Russia1991 Bernard Buffet at the State Hermitage Museum in Saint-Petersburg, Russia1991 Bernard Buffet at the Gallery Hyundai in Seoul, Korea1993 Bernard Buffet at the Muse Gustave Courbet in Ornans, France1994 Bernard Buffet at the Documenta-Halle in Kassel, Germany

1995 Bernard Buffet at the Odakyu Museum in Tokyo, Japan1996 Bernard Buffet at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan2009 Bernard Buffet at the Centre de la Vieille Charit in Marseille, France2010 Bernard Buffet at the Galerie Pascale Froessel in Strasbourg, France2012 Bernard Buffet at the Muse dArt Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France2012 Tribute to Bernard Buffet at the Atelier Gabrielle in Salernes, France2012 Bernard Buffet, engraver, at the Muse Yves Brayer in Les Baux-de-Provence, France

Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida, USAMuse dArt Moderne, Lille, FranceNational Gallery for Foreign Art, Sofia, BulgariaNational Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, CanadaNational Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, JapanTampere Art Museum, Tampere, FinlandMuseum of Contemporary Art, Skopje, MacedoniaBernard Buffet Museum, Tokyo, Japan

Selected Public Collections

G

alerieMauriceGarnier


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bernard buffet.pdf

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