Cherries in a Fruit Bowl, 1957
Oil on canvas, signed and dated on the right side, numbered V30 on the back
54 x 65 cm 21 17/64 x 25 19/32 in.
A certificate of authenticity from the Galerie Maurice Garnier dated January 5, 1999 will be given to the buyer.
PROVENANCE
Galerie Pams, Antibes, 1986
Private collection, Lorraine
Private collection, France
Bernard Buffet
"Do you have a big project in progress? Yes. To paint. Always painting."- Bernard Buffet during his interview with Jean-Marie Tasset for Le Figaro, 1992 "
Bernard Buffet (1928-1999), considered one of the major painters of the 20th century in France, is a central figure of the Expressionist movement. He was very early on the beneficiary of the public's infatuation, but he was also criticized by the critics. The press seized on his image, which oscillated between "painter of the misery of young people after the war" and "millionaire painter of misery". In the mid-1950s, he frequented the artistic and nightlife scene in Saint-Germain des Prés, which included Françoise Sagan and the existentialists. These years marked the beginning of Bernard Buffet's collaboration with the gallery owner Maurice Garnier, who exhibited and defended his work all his life.
From 1956 until 1976 it was the period that the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris qualified as "The fury of painting/ The turning point". Bernard Buffet's success reached its peak in 1958 when he separated from Pierre Bergé, with whom he had a passionate relationship, and met his wife Annabel Schwob, who shared his life for more than 40 years. It was also in 1958 that the Galerie Charpentier organised the first retrospective of his work. There were riots because of the crowds. One hundred of the artist's paintings were exhibited along with the following statement:
"In our time when everyone knows so many things, when intelligence has forgotten no one, I must admit that I know nothing, that genius has not visited me, since I am obliged to work so much, and that intelligence has not met me, because for as long as I have been thinking, I have not yet understood what seems to be the obvious to most."
Statement by the artist displayed in the exhibition "One hundred paintings, from 1944 to 1958" at the Galerie Charpentier
Throughout his life, Bernard Buffet painted still lifes. They will come to punctuate his work like a leitmotif, and we can find a timeless character by the very nature of this genre. In fact, the artist presents a personal inventory of familiar objects that he paints at home: bottle baskets, trivets, and fruit jars. Cherries in a Fruit Bowl, painted in 1957, uses the sharp lines and ochre tones so characteristic of Bernard Buffet's post-war period. The fruit bowl, an everyday object, stands next to the cherries, fruits destined to ripen and rot. The immobility of the still life genre allows for a reflection on the present moment, on life and death, themes dear to Bernard Buffet.
AC2021
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