PROVENANCE:
Galerie David et Garnier, Paris
Private collection, Asia

This painting is to be sold with a certificate of authenticity issued by Galerie David et Garnier, Paris in 1966.

CLOWN (NO. 58 S)
BERNARD BUFFET

Having stirred discussions throughout his life, Buffet is in the spotlight in the art world. If one were to choose a post-war artist as the representative of France in the dazzling and indulgent Europe of the 1960s and 70s, it could be no one but Buffet. He was not lost within the abstract style popular at the time. Rather, his work is full of emotional tension, making him the most loved figurative expressionist painter in the world.

Buffet was a genius artist. He had thorough academic training at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-arts de Paris. But his key inspirations for art were from his countless visits at the Louvre, where he gained nourishment from the works of classical masters from history, including Rembrandt, Courbet, David, and Delacroix. Buffet also loved the works of the Fauvists, van Dongen and Vlaminck. The figurative cubist style of Claude Vernard (Lot 011), who was of the same generation as Buffet, was also appreciated by Buffet. The two befriended each other in an exhibition of Vernard's. In 1946, Buffet launched his first exhibition along with multiple artists, including Georges Mathieu, in The Salon of Artists Under Thirty Years Old (Salon des moins de trente ans) at Galerie des Beaux-Arts. Due to his unique personal style, his works gathered much attention.

From 1948 to 1958, having spent his youth in war, Buffet's human figures mostly criticized the cruelty of war; he depicted the torment people felt after having experienced the chaos of war, fear, and poverty. The work of this period is mostly in grey tones and full of thin lines. The people are bony and craggy, with wizened faces. They are mostly set in the studio or chilly rooms — people and things we encounter in everyday life. In 1948, he won highest honors in the Prix de la Critique, along with Bernard Lorjou. Many of his works were collected by the most authoritative collector of the time, Dr. Maurice Girardin, which made the young Buffet more famous.

In the spring of 1950, Pierre Bergé met Buffet. One was eighteen and the other twenty-one. For eight years, the two lived together and were inseparable. Bergé is the best living witness to the youth of Buffet. He has a private collection of many of Buffet's representative works, which were exhibited at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris. According to Bergé, Buffet had worked very fast since his youth. There is always a fluid sense of urgency in both his large and small pieces. To get away from the crowd, the two moved many times. No matter where he went, Buffet was always able to overcome the conditions of the environment to create. In his private studio, no matter how big the painting, Buffet would nail the canvas to the wall. He would mix the colors on the messy desk, and only when the work is complete would he frame the canvas. In this period, Buffet used mostly ink to outline the silhouette first, adding color after. The layered grey tones and black lines became the most representative characteristics of Buffet's works.

His clown theme started in the 1950s. According to Bergé, Buffet never visited the circus when they lived together. His first clown model was called Bigoudi, a white clown with a weird costume. It was created at the drag bar Madame Arthur. Clowns and the Circus became important themes for Buffet. The clown portraits, so full of emotional tension, were especially sought for collection. From the 1950s to the 1990s, this theme continued to appear in Buffet's life. It also became an excellent theme by which to view changes in the artist's style. The clowns of the 1950s still looked a lot like actors in real life: with makeup for performance, white powder on their faces, the black lines strong, the forehead winkles clear, inverted V brows, nose wrinkles that follow the thin lips down, and the eyes that seem both to be staring straight at the observers and also looking sadly afar.

Many art masters have taken clowns as their inspiration because clowns embody both sadness and happiness. In classic literature, they are also the paragons of the spirit of justice, speaking out about social injustice. But only Buffet's clowns are so varied, and so closely reflect our inner feelings. Buffet's photographer friend Luc Fournal even described the clown thusly: The clown, in fear, powdered his face. People are similar — it is just more difficult to see it, and their faces become dirty instead. Ay! There is nothing he can do to help! (“Le clown, c’est la peur et il se peint le visage. L’homme ausssi c’est moins voyant mais plus sale et il n’y peut rien hélas”, 1968 )

Clown (No. 58 S) was created in 1966. With its richly layered beige-yellow background, the painting is the head of a clown, created by the artist through a mixture of oil paint, water color, ink and pastel colors. With red hair and green clothing, M-shaped eye brows add humor and joy to the face. The mouth is closed but the nose wrinkles do not point downwards. The clown seems to have just removed his makeup. His face is white with a rosy touch. His nose and chin are also reddish. With a gleaming and tender look, this is a clown who is peaceful inside, just like the young Buffet. In a complete reversal of his deeply depressive past, in the 1960s, Buffet married his muse Annabel Buffet. As he became more well-known for his art, Buffet's style also became bright and colorful.

Buffet's figures have various styles. From The Flayers, The Madwomen, to his final The Dead series, one can see that the artist overcame reality and the dark side and deadly feelings left by the wars in his youth. Buffet once said, Nobody knows who I used to be . (“Personne ne saura jamais qui j’étais vraiment ”.) Perhaps only clowns could be a double for Buffet, to help him bear the applause and the shadows under the spotlight. Expressing his emotions freely, sometimes crying and other times laughing, both throwing himself into the crowd's warmth and bearing the loneliness of solitude. All his life, he created, leaving us part of himself, and an endless imagination.