Bernard Buffet

Bernard Buffet
File:Bernard buffetDCP 2415.JPG Portrait of Bernard Buffet by Irish artist Reginald Gray. Paris. 1964
Born	Bernard Buffet
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 (10 July 1928 – 4 October 1999) was a French painter of Expressionism and Member of the Anti-Abstract Art Group "L'homme Témoin [the Witness-Man]".

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 left Buffet for Yves Saint Laurent.

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

November 23, 1973 the Bernard Buffet Museum was inaugurated; it 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.

Buffet created more than 8.000 paintings and many prints as well.

He committed suicide at his home in Tourtour, Southern France, on October 4, 1999. Buffet 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)

1952 La Passion du Christ 1954 Horreur de la Guerre 1958 Jeanne d'Arc 1961 Portraits d'Annabel 1962 La Chapelle de Château l'Arc 1965 Les ecorches 1967 La corrida 1971 Les Folles 1977 L'enfer de Dante 1978 The French Revolution 1989 Vingt mille lieues sous les mers

1991 Souvenirs d'Italie 1991 New York 1992 Les Clowns Musiciens 1992 Saint-Petersburg 1993 L'Empire ou les plaisirs de la guerre 1993 Promenade Provencale 1995 Sept peches capitaux 1996 Pekin 1998 La maison 1999 Mes Singes 2000 La mort

Awards

1947 Member of the Salon d'Automne 1947 Member of the Société des Artistes Indépendants 1948 co-recipient of the Prix de la Critique with Bernard Lorjou 1950 Prix Puvis de Chavannes

1955 First Prize by Magazine Connaissance 1973 Officer of the Légion d'Honneur 1974 Member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts

Collections (Selection)

ARTAX, Düsseldorf Boca Raton Museum of Art Ca la Ghironda, Bologna Kunstmuseum Walter, Augsburg Musée d´art moderne de Lille, Villeneuve d´Ascq Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje

National Gallery for Foreign Art, Sofia National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo Tampere Art Museum Tate Gallery, London Wellside Gallery, Seoul

See also

• Bernard Buffet, a 1956 film by Étienne Périer

External links

• Musee Bernard Buffet
• Artnet.com
• Portrait of Bernard Buffet by Reginald Gray. Paris 1963.