PRINTPROVENANCE:
Galerie Drouant-David, Paris
Anon. sale, Christie's, New York, November 9, 2000, lot 197
Christie’s New York, September 12, 2007, lot 98
K-Auction, Hong Kong, October 4, 2015, lot 67
Private collection, Asia
Catalogue Note:
Born in 1928, Bernard Buffet was 18 years old when he made his first official appearance in the art world at the Salon des Moins de Trente Ans exhibit in Paris’s Gallery of Fine Arts. Having experienced
the suffering of two world wars, Buffet reflected this theme in his work. His portraits condemn war and depict the human experience of war: suffering, fear, poverty, and pain. In 1948, Buffet won the prestigious Prix de la Critique, and many of the works were collected by collector Dr. Maurice Girardin, a major authority in the art world; as a result, Buffet became a well-known artist early in life.
Buffet’s close friend Pierre Bergé was one of the most influential people to witness the young artist’s development from 1950-1958. He owns several important early paintings by Buffet, which were exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Paris at the end of 2016. According to Bergé, Buffet was a prolific painter from a young age, producing both large and small works with mature and thoughtful composition. Driven by relentless creativity, Buffet worked at his art heedless of the time and conditions to capture fleeting inspiration.
In 1954, the David Gallery launched its annual exhibition, ''Interior''. In the same year, Buffet completed many self-portraits and representative works, such as ''La Passion du Christ'', ''Horreur de la guerre'', ''Boeuf écorché'', etc. He was invited to exhibit at the prestigious Galerie Charpentier in Paris; four years later, the gallery also held Buffet’s first solo retrospective. Away from the hustle and bustle of Paris, in a studio closed to the public, Buffet could work day and night. For both large paintings and small, he would staple the canvas directly to the wall and mix paint on the messy desktop, then frame the piece after it was finished. His style began to break away from the thin pencil lines and gray tones that he customarily used since 1945. Most of Buffet’s works in 1950’s created first by laying the outline with ink and then gradually deepening the tone of colors. After all, these two characters cautiously became his trademark style.
At the same time, there is a unity about Buffet's subjects. The composition with a near-modular and color palette that makes his portraits instantly recognizable. Buffet used to paint by his right hand and composed his figure with a three-quarter left side profile, just like the self-portraits completed by himself in front of the mirror. Portraits of specific well-known people or of the friends, are mostly seated sideways; dressed in similar clothing with feet crossed, hands resting on the legs or on one side of the cheek, subjects differentiate only in facial characteristics. The backgrounds are simple and often have a single corner table or chair. What's unique is that it occasionally appears in the background, expressing the thin wooden frame with the studio as the background.
The self-portrait as a subject can not only identify the artist's style and position in history, but also be used to analyze the artist's inner state and and the self-image he wanted to present to the world. Buffet’s external image is clear, and many self-portraits created in his life reflect the style and mental state of that particular stage in his art. In the 1954 piece ''Portrait of a Man in Scarf'', the simple background of dark blue patterned wallpaper emphasizes the main figure’s face. His shoulders are sloping and his extended neck almost appears rigid. The deliberately oversized head places full focus on the subject’s vivid expression. A wisp of hair falls across his forehead, which is crossed with creases. His tear tracks are deep, and his pupils are indistinct, like the slack eyes of a drunk. His nose is thin and sharp as a razor and deep lines run down alongside it. The corners of his mouth are downturned, slightly exposing his teeth. He wears the clothing of a laborer with a coarse cotton shirt, a rumpled, turned-out collar, and a work scarf. And these characteristics mimic the elements and style of other self-portraits Buffet completed in that year.
Newspapers and magazine articles reveal that while Buffet’s external image was already clear at 26, his personality was very shy. This aided his creativity, making him very thoughtful and motivated. His creative force was in full swing as he continuously churned out large-scale and highly impactful paintings. Buffet yearned to emulate the image of wild and uninhibited genius and poet Arthur Rimbaud. Well-known art critic André Warlow, who reviewed Buffet’s work in the Figaro newspaper that year, stated that the artist shook the art world with images that were almost inappropriate. However, during a time when France urgently needed a new generation to break with the past and help it recover from its war wounds, Buffet responded to the existentialist spirit. Buffet’s profound depictions of human nature were a powerful shot in the arm for postwar France. Created in 1954, at this essential point in Buffet’s career, ''The Man in the Scarf'' can be regarded as a masterpiece of French postwar art, as well as an exemplary work by Buffet, confirming him as a master of representative art and showing his great artistic ambition.
Galerie Drouant-David, Paris
Anon. sale, Christie's, New York, November 9, 2000, lot 197
Christie’s New York, September 12, 2007, lot 98
K-Auction, Hong Kong, October 4, 2015, lot 67
Private collection, Asia
Catalogue Note:
Born in 1928, Bernard Buffet was 18 years old when he made his first official appearance in the art world at the Salon des Moins de Trente Ans exhibit in Paris’s Gallery of Fine Arts. Having experienced
the suffering of two world wars, Buffet reflected this theme in his work. His portraits condemn war and depict the human experience of war: suffering, fear, poverty, and pain. In 1948, Buffet won the prestigious Prix de la Critique, and many of the works were collected by collector Dr. Maurice Girardin, a major authority in the art world; as a result, Buffet became a well-known artist early in life.
Buffet’s close friend Pierre Bergé was one of the most influential people to witness the young artist’s development from 1950-1958. He owns several important early paintings by Buffet, which were exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Paris at the end of 2016. According to Bergé, Buffet was a prolific painter from a young age, producing both large and small works with mature and thoughtful composition. Driven by relentless creativity, Buffet worked at his art heedless of the time and conditions to capture fleeting inspiration.
In 1954, the David Gallery launched its annual exhibition, ''Interior''. In the same year, Buffet completed many self-portraits and representative works, such as ''La Passion du Christ'', ''Horreur de la guerre'', ''Boeuf écorché'', etc. He was invited to exhibit at the prestigious Galerie Charpentier in Paris; four years later, the gallery also held Buffet’s first solo retrospective. Away from the hustle and bustle of Paris, in a studio closed to the public, Buffet could work day and night. For both large paintings and small, he would staple the canvas directly to the wall and mix paint on the messy desktop, then frame the piece after it was finished. His style began to break away from the thin pencil lines and gray tones that he customarily used since 1945. Most of Buffet’s works in 1950’s created first by laying the outline with ink and then gradually deepening the tone of colors. After all, these two characters cautiously became his trademark style.
At the same time, there is a unity about Buffet's subjects. The composition with a near-modular and color palette that makes his portraits instantly recognizable. Buffet used to paint by his right hand and composed his figure with a three-quarter left side profile, just like the self-portraits completed by himself in front of the mirror. Portraits of specific well-known people or of the friends, are mostly seated sideways; dressed in similar clothing with feet crossed, hands resting on the legs or on one side of the cheek, subjects differentiate only in facial characteristics. The backgrounds are simple and often have a single corner table or chair. What's unique is that it occasionally appears in the background, expressing the thin wooden frame with the studio as the background.
The self-portrait as a subject can not only identify the artist's style and position in history, but also be used to analyze the artist's inner state and and the self-image he wanted to present to the world. Buffet’s external image is clear, and many self-portraits created in his life reflect the style and mental state of that particular stage in his art. In the 1954 piece ''Portrait of a Man in Scarf'', the simple background of dark blue patterned wallpaper emphasizes the main figure’s face. His shoulders are sloping and his extended neck almost appears rigid. The deliberately oversized head places full focus on the subject’s vivid expression. A wisp of hair falls across his forehead, which is crossed with creases. His tear tracks are deep, and his pupils are indistinct, like the slack eyes of a drunk. His nose is thin and sharp as a razor and deep lines run down alongside it. The corners of his mouth are downturned, slightly exposing his teeth. He wears the clothing of a laborer with a coarse cotton shirt, a rumpled, turned-out collar, and a work scarf. And these characteristics mimic the elements and style of other self-portraits Buffet completed in that year.
Newspapers and magazine articles reveal that while Buffet’s external image was already clear at 26, his personality was very shy. This aided his creativity, making him very thoughtful and motivated. His creative force was in full swing as he continuously churned out large-scale and highly impactful paintings. Buffet yearned to emulate the image of wild and uninhibited genius and poet Arthur Rimbaud. Well-known art critic André Warlow, who reviewed Buffet’s work in the Figaro newspaper that year, stated that the artist shook the art world with images that were almost inappropriate. However, during a time when France urgently needed a new generation to break with the past and help it recover from its war wounds, Buffet responded to the existentialist spirit. Buffet’s profound depictions of human nature were a powerful shot in the arm for postwar France. Created in 1954, at this essential point in Buffet’s career, ''The Man in the Scarf'' can be regarded as a masterpiece of French postwar art, as well as an exemplary work by Buffet, confirming him as a master of representative art and showing his great artistic ambition.