Bernard Buffet

BERNARD BUFFET (Paris, 1928 - Tourtour, 1999).
"Port".1972.
Hand-printed tapestry on wool, copy 39/200.
With certificate signed by the author on the back.
Limited edition.
Measurements: 113 x 116 cm.

This Port belongs to a mature phase of Bernard Buffet's production, when his plastic language was already completely defined and he had become one of the most recognizable of the post-war European artistic panorama. Although it is a hand-printed tapestry on wool, the work faithfully translates the essential features of his painting: the incisive drawing, the black and angular contours, the structured composition and a restrained, almost severe atmosphere.

The port scene -a recurring motif in Buffet- is articulated through a frontal and ordered perspective, where boats, masts and coastal constructions are arranged with an almost architectural rigidity. Vertical lines dominate the composition, tightening the space and accentuating a sense of melancholic stillness. The color, reduced and earthy, reinforces the austere and reflective character of the scene, far from any picturesque or luminist vision of the seascape.

The translation of this motif to the textile support does not dilute Buffet's drama or graphic strength; on the contrary, it underlines his interest in the controlled diffusion of his work through limited editions, very carefully supervised by himself.

Bernard Buffet was one of the most influential figurative painters of the French post-war period. Trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he achieved early notoriety and developed a personal style based on linear drawing, chromatic austerity and an existential vision of the contemporary world. He maintained an independent and coherent trajectory. His works are part of the collections of the Pompidou Center in Paris and the Tate Gallery in London. Of particular note is the retrospective organized by the Pompidou in 2017.