Bernard Buffet
Biography
Bernard Buffet is a French Expressionist best known for his figurative, graphic, and centrally composed. He rejected Abstract art and passionately worked to argue the importance of representational art. He studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and worked in the studio of the painter Eugène Narbonne. Among his classmates were Maurice Boitel and Louis Vuillermoz, later he met and was influenced by the French painter Marie-Thérèse Auffray.
Thematically he revolved around ideas of art history, death, sexuality, popular culture, and politics while often directly referencing contemporary events and artists.
Pierre Bergé was Bernard Buffet’s live-in lover until Bergé left Buffet for Yves Saint Laurent. On 12 December 1958, Buffet married the writer and actress Annabel Schwob. They adopted three children. Buffet took his own life after a prolonged battle with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 71.
Born: 1928
Died: 1999
Education: École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts
Exhibitions
Select Exhibitions
2010–2011
Bernard Buffet et la Provence, Musée Bernard Buffet, Surugadaira, Japan (solo)
2010
Bernard Buffet : Huiles et aquarelles, Galerie DIL, Paris, France (solo)
Bernard Buffet, Galerie Pascale Froessel, Strasbourg, France (solo)
2009
Bernard Buffet, Centre de la Vieille Charité, Marseille (solo)
2007
Auktion 24, Lehr, Auktionshaus und Galerie, Berlin, Germany
2006
Rétrospective, Gemeentemuseum den haag, La Haye, The Netherlands (solo)
La force de l’art – Superdefense, Galeries naitonales du Grand Palais, Paris, France
2005
Tauchfahrten, Zeichnung als Reportage, Kunsthalle Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany
1996
Musée des Beaux-arts de Kaoshiung, Taiwan (solo)
1995
The Odakyu Museum, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
1994
Documents Halle, Kassel, Germany (solo)
1993
Gustave Courbet Museum, Ornans, France (solo)
1991
Pouchkine Museum, Moscow, Russia (solo)
Ermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia (solo)
Hyundai Museum, Seoul, South Korea (solo)
1987
The Odakyu Museum, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
1985
Refectoire des Jacobins, Toulouse, France (solo)
1983
Seedamm Cultural Center, Zurich, Switzerland (solo)
1978
The Postal Museum, Paris, France (solo)
1977
Gemeentmuseum, Wieger Deurne, The Netherlands (solo)
1969
Unterlinden Museum, Colmar, France (solo)
1963
The Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
1959
The French Institute, Berlin, Germany (solo)
1958
Retrospective, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, France (solo)
1957
Galerie David and Garnier, Paris, France (solo)
1948
Salon d’Automne, Paris, France
Jeune Peinture Exhibition, Galerie Drouant-David, Paris, France
1947
Salon des Independants, Paris, France
Art Impressions book shop, Paris, France (solo)