ZHONG CHENG

  • Zhong Cheng 2022 Autumn Auction「Modern And Contemporary Art」
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    BERNARD BUFFET (1928-1999)

    Le poisson

    1963

    Oil on Canvas
    81 x 116 cm

    Signed Bernard Buffet in English and dated 1963

    Estimate TWD 6,800,000-11,000,000
    USD 219,400-354,800
    HKD 0-0

    Hammer Price TWD 8,400,000
    USD 261,601
    HKD 2,058,824

With a certificate of authenticity from gallery

Provenance：

Illustrated：

Exhibition：

Exposition：

"Painting... we do not talk about it, we do not analyse it, we feel it." ─ Bernard Buffet

Born in 1928, Bernard Buffet was a renowned French artist, who embarked on a career in art in the 1940s and 1950s and had distinguished achievements. In a combination of socialist realism, Neo expressionism and figuration libre, Buffet had solidified an artistic style divergent from his contemporaries. He was considered as one of the representatives of French neo-expressionism.

The Buffet style has a pointed, sharp and prominent black stroke in combination with very little color, deeply marked throughout his career journey. With a monotone coloring palette, his early works were portraying the desolation, loneliness, depression and social alienation atmosphere in the dark post-war periods. A little more colors were revealed in his later work, with white and grey palette scheme that brought out the strong pure colors, such as black, yellow, red and other solid ones. There was slightly lingering charm of Fauvism that can be perceived from here as the color harmony and the color perspective method was disregarded. However, sharp emotions still aroused from Buffett's works, which have been tinged with a little more colors, throughout the surface of the realistic society. It is truly giving off the mighty comprehension far from the real world, holding strong a dramatic aura.

Throughout his life Buffet painted a variety of themes about "fish". Gazing at the same "themes" continues to be fragmented and sporadic; his intense feeling of deep affection over the years is no less than the one Oscar-Claude Monet felt while wholly perceptually observing the Rouen Cathedral. Whereas Buffet was focusing on the pure reality of life, which is pettier, more careless but much closer to an individual.

This artwork, Le poisson, is an oil painting made in 1963. Those paintings made during 1960s and 1970s were truly the heyday of Buffett's artworks of his life. The piercingly cold and solid fish bone was set as a theme in the painting, harmoniously followed by the solitary brushstrokes of Buffett. The perception of sharpness and fragility of the fish bones is not evoked intentionally, that is the true feeling and desolation in the deepest part of his soul. The skeleton’s shape, at first glance, seems natural and sensible, with the subtle distortions accompanied by smooth adaptation in his stroke. When you look closer, the rhythmic and dynamic vibes come straight right to you. However, the nature of these fish bones reveals a strong sense of seclusion and vulnerability in the deserted background. Indicating the bond and the perception between the environment and the artist at that time, the fish bone purely stands alone on the dining table, on the plate, in the room and in the display. There is no extra room for its comfort and belongingness.

It is also the period when Buffett created the most artworks with "fish". Varied from sketches, doodles to formal oil paintings, different species of fish have been depicted in an individual shape and condition. The only thing they have in common is their figure. All of them are slim, desolate, vulnerable, even stagnant and some are just bones. It seems Buffett was trying to look into and search for something.

These rare artworks of Buffett have attracted collectors and art institutions from all over the world. Even the public collections are still very rare to be seen yet. However, it won’t be hard to imagine with all these valuable artworks being displayed that the rich atmosphere of the country in his time will be brought to life. Hidden behind his artworks are Buffett's particularly private emotional sensitivity, the empathy for the delicacy on the dining table or the mementos on the display stand and the most flawless essence of his works throughout his life.

As the only iconic figure in the Western art history, when Buffett successfully found a unique expression and interpreted language of art, he would repeat it persistently just like the masters from the past generations. As Alin Alexis Avila, the French contemporary art critic declared: "Bernard Buffett's paintings are free from the sway of contemporary art, like the masters from each past era; his work establishes an inner need which is timeless.” In addition, the spirit in Buffett's paintings doesn’t depend on anything at all, neither on society, nor culture or any established ideas. In his artworks, there are no words, no comments, but indeed they portray everything in truth and reality.

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