Artwork information

Category

Print

Technique

Lithograph

Date

1967

Dimensions

50 cm x 65 cm

Signature

Signed lower right

State of conservation

Very good

Framing

No

Location

Paris, France

Description

Beautiful lithograph on Arches paper by Bernard Buffet, signed by the artist and numbered 89 from an edition at 125 copies. Entitled 'La petite plage', this lithograph was produced by Bernard Buffet in 1967. It depicts the beach at Saint-Cast le Guildo in Brittany, France.

As a child, Buffet and his mother, whom he loved dearly, spent every summer at a house in Saint-Cast. During a trip in 1964, Buffet, a well-known painter, found the abandoned house in Saint-Cast and, like one of Proust's madeleines, this vision brought back the voluptuous memories and carefree hours of his childhood. The following year, he decided to buy the much-loved house (La Vallée), where he settled with his partner Annabel and their children, now dividing his time between Brittany and Paris.

"A fairy tale that he had dreamed of living in as a child," confides Annabe. The series of works produced in Saint-Cast from 1964 onwards combine this dreamlike feeling with that of the rediscovered plenitude of childhood. This Brittany "lived as much as dreamed", to use Lydia Harambourg's expression, is reflected in the quasi-real colors of La petite plage, which the painter chose to depict from the shore inland, bathed in twilight.

Bibliography

Charles Sorlier, Bernard Buffet lithographe, Paris, Editions Trinckvel Draeger, 1979. n° 103

The artist

Painter
Drawer

Bernard Buffet

Famous artistFamous artist
Painter
Drawer
Born in 1928
France

Bio

Bernard Buffet is a French painter of the second half of the 20th century, he is considered a "miserable expressionist". Indeed, his style find its inspiration from a very modest everyday life. As a productive artist, he received great recognition during his lifetime.

Bernard Buffet was born on July 10, 1928 in Paris, where he spent his childhood on rue des Batignolles in the city's 17th arrondissement. At the age of 15, he won the entrance exam to the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and at only 18, he became a professional artist. In 1947, he received a commission from the National Museum of Modern Art of Paris. 

In 1951, Bernard Buffet befriends personalities such as Jean Cocteau, Louis Aragon, Pierre Bergé, Jean Giono, Georges Simenon or Maurice Druon. The latter even devoted a biography to him in 1964.

In 1958, the artist met Annabel Schwob who became his wife and muse. In 1974, Bernard Buffet is elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts, and in 1993, he receives the "Légion d'honneur".

In 1997, Bernard Buffet was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. In 1999, unable to paint anymore because of his illness, Bernard Buffet puts an end to his life in Tourtour in the Var, France.

Bernard Buffet's works are poignant, his style is quite recognizable: gray and pale faces, foreheads marked by wrinkles, tight hands, straight hair, Bernard Buffet's characters are as if crucified.

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