Bernard Buffet was nothing, if not prolific. Almost every sale of art
held at l'Hôtel Drouot in Paris features a work by this Parisian
artist. His style in fact, owes everything to Paris. It is the style of
Montmatre's poster art that had its origins with Toulouse-Lautrec and is
to be found today in street artists who will sketch your portrait in charcoal
for twenty dollars. Buffet's trademark is his lavish use of thick black
lines that give the impression of hasty charcoal streaks even when painted
in oil. He exploited the effect commonly used by street artists when an
entire length of charcoal is applied on the flat side instead of the point.
From Hong Kong to Florence tourists stand dumbfounded as sketch artists
use this technique to render two minute scenes of the Ponte Vecchio or
floating sampans. They then sign their masterworks with a flourish, another
trademark of Buffet whose signature is unmistakable and prominent on everything
he did.
Perhaps it was this graphic quality punctuated only with touches of
sedate colour that so endeared Buffet to the Japanese who have created
two museums in his honour. It has a quality reminiscent of traditional
Japanese woodcuts. Buffet was not a favourite of the Parisian critics who
saw his style as arrière-garde and stagnant. He was well aware of
their disdain but continued in his unshakeable fashion. Success for Buffet
would lie outside his country not only in Japan but he held a special appeal
for the Italians who have honoured him with a room dedicated to his pictures
at the Vatican Museum.
Having discussed the physical trademarks of Buffet's inimitable style
one cannot leave out the psychological stamp which permeates his art: existentialist
angst. As with Impressionist predecessors Seurat and Toulouse-Lautrec and
also Picasso the tragi-comic figure of the clown and other circus characters
was a recurring theme. Onto the mask of the clown Buffet projected the
angst-ridden mood of the post-war French society he mixed in, populated
with characters like Sartre and Juliette Greco. Mad women, bull fights,
Joan of Arc, the Passion of Christ, most of the subjects he chose
were reflective of the philosophical code of a France "qui n'a pas la pêche".
| The ego of the
artist dominates with the signature like a cloud in the sky. |
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In his later years Buffet turned to painting and making lithographs
of still-life subjects and landscapes, but they never escaped the over-riding
sense of neurotic friction. He worked right up till the time of suicide
and was obviously pre-occupied with thoughts of death as he painted works
for what was to be his next exhibition such as "La Mort 13". This macabre
picture shows the king and queen of death as Renaissance garbed skeletons
grimacing at the viewer as ravens fly about them (detail
below, King). Tenderly, the two skeletons touch fingertips as if
to say "we are united even in death". This may be a pathetic last testimony
to the passionate lifetime love the artist shared with his wife and muse
Annabelle who survives him together with their two adopted children.
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