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Bernard Buffet: The Invention of the Modern Mega-artist
As the first of the so-called Fabulous Five (Francoise Sagan, Roger Vadim, Brigitte Bardot and Yves Saint Laurent) Bernard Buffet was a leader of the cultural revolution that seemed to forge a new France from the shattered remains of a demoralized country. While still in his twenties he had a Rolls Royce, a chateau, an island, high society at his feet and a glittering future ahead. Yet his extraordinary fall from grace was engineered by the very establishment that created him. Once hailed as a genius he was later shunned as a joke. Today, almost 70 years after he first shot to fame as a 20 year old prodigy hailed as a successor to Picasso, critical opinion of his work remains sharply divided. His remarkable story is played out against the backdrop of the beau monde of the 1950s and 1960s in locations as diverse as St. Tropez, Tokyo, Paris, Dallas, St. Petersburg and New York. With the cooperation of the Buffet estate, this is the first in-depth biography of the artist to be published in English, and Foulkes has secured unique interviews and access to the Buffet legacy.
- GenresArt
400 pages, Paperback
First published June 18, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 19, 2023
When I picked up this biography I could not remember who Bernard Buffet and it was only when I saw one of the far to few reproductions of his work in this book that I remembered, well not the artist but his works. Buffet was the clown man. Seeing the pictures of his work brought me back to my childhood and youth in the 60s and 70s when his images ubiquitous and as recognisable (in the UK at least) as Lowry. I can not avoid thinking of doctor and dentist waiting rooms and the beige brown colours of that time. Reproductions of his clowns were the only 'art' most ordinary homes have - unfortunately I also associate those images with the stuffy, condensation streaked interiors and stench of cabbage and toasting feet Infront those dreadful electric or gas fires everyone had before central heating.
I don't think I knew these pictures were created by someone who regarded themselves as an artist I don't think I actually considered them art. But they were unforgettable.
The most interesting part of the book was the Buffet's early life and celebrity because he was very successful and highly regarded by almost everyone at the start of his career in the late 1940s until about 1958. During his rise to prominence and acclaim as a the savior of French art he was involved with Pierre Berge. They were lovers and Berge managed his career and helped create celebrity.
In 1958 he left Buffet bed and life and moved into the bed of Yves Saint Laurent and onto manage his business and career. Buffet married a woman and settled to alcoholism and painting the type of painting again and again to great financial rewards and the contempt of all serious artists and critics'. It is true that after Buffet the French surrender the future of painting to New York. I can't help thinking that Pierre Berge knew what he was doing when he switched to Saint Laurent. No matter how successful he might be he was not the future of art, not even in France. Saint Laurent had a future as a business but also an 'artist'.
After those years to 1958 there isn't much to say About Buffet. He drank to much, painted to much, he lived well in his many palatial homes, married a second time, had children, and believed that despite his popular success, that there was a conspiracy by dealers, museums, critic's, etc. to deny him his place in the history of art. Mr. Foulkes tries to make a case for this but you really have to imagine that all his thousands of paintings (he painted, he claimed, one a day) mean something, have quality and substance to believe this. As much as any of us may despise a great deal of modern art that doesn't mean Buffet has been denied a place in the canon of art.
This is an interesting book and Foulkes writes well with style and intelligence. Interestingly enough the Wikipedia entry for Buffet doesn't mention this or other book (there are some in French) only links to things produced by his children. His says a lot about accuracy and reliability of Wikipedia and absolutely nothing about the quality of this biography.
Ultimately the long years after 1958 aren't very interesting and it would have been better to have more examples of his work.
I don't think I knew these pictures were created by someone who regarded themselves as an artist I don't think I actually considered them art. But they were unforgettable.
The most interesting part of the book was the Buffet's early life and celebrity because he was very successful and highly regarded by almost everyone at the start of his career in the late 1940s until about 1958. During his rise to prominence and acclaim as a the savior of French art he was involved with Pierre Berge. They were lovers and Berge managed his career and helped create celebrity.
In 1958 he left Buffet bed and life and moved into the bed of Yves Saint Laurent and onto manage his business and career. Buffet married a woman and settled to alcoholism and painting the type of painting again and again to great financial rewards and the contempt of all serious artists and critics'. It is true that after Buffet the French surrender the future of painting to New York. I can't help thinking that Pierre Berge knew what he was doing when he switched to Saint Laurent. No matter how successful he might be he was not the future of art, not even in France. Saint Laurent had a future as a business but also an 'artist'.
After those years to 1958 there isn't much to say About Buffet. He drank to much, painted to much, he lived well in his many palatial homes, married a second time, had children, and believed that despite his popular success, that there was a conspiracy by dealers, museums, critic's, etc. to deny him his place in the history of art. Mr. Foulkes tries to make a case for this but you really have to imagine that all his thousands of paintings (he painted, he claimed, one a day) mean something, have quality and substance to believe this. As much as any of us may despise a great deal of modern art that doesn't mean Buffet has been denied a place in the canon of art.
This is an interesting book and Foulkes writes well with style and intelligence. Interestingly enough the Wikipedia entry for Buffet doesn't mention this or other book (there are some in French) only links to things produced by his children. His says a lot about accuracy and reliability of Wikipedia and absolutely nothing about the quality of this biography.
Ultimately the long years after 1958 aren't very interesting and it would have been better to have more examples of his work.
December 14, 2025
My folks had a Bernard Buffet painting of a clown when I was growing up. I was so drawn to the sadness the clown provoked through his painted-on smile. It was the beginning of a life long love for his haunting works.
I had no idea the controversy behind his work and his life and this book beautifully tells his story, from a struggling post-war teenage artist with little formal training, to his sensational rise to celebrity, to his equally sudden and devastating fall. His life was as captivating, emotional, and, sometimes, disturbing as his paintings.
I had no idea the controversy behind his work and his life and this book beautifully tells his story, from a struggling post-war teenage artist with little formal training, to his sensational rise to celebrity, to his equally sudden and devastating fall. His life was as captivating, emotional, and, sometimes, disturbing as his paintings.
February 28, 2022
Buffet
Once the opinion of what sank Buffet's career was established, the remainder of the book should have been full of examples of his work reflecting the period s where the author identified.
Perhaps an art expert could have helped.
The book deserves five stars but the absence of examples takes away from its real value.
Once the opinion of what sank Buffet's career was established, the remainder of the book should have been full of examples of his work reflecting the period s where the author identified.
Perhaps an art expert could have helped.
The book deserves five stars but the absence of examples takes away from its real value.
January 23, 2022
Very interesting. Good research
December 31, 2022
A really good biography of a terrific artist. Would be 5 stars except for the tiresome proselytizing.
May 18, 2020
Very entertaining biography of a fairly lousy artist. Foulkes presents a lot of silly conspiracy theories as to why the art world doesn't like Buffet with an ingenuous "I'm not saying it's true but here's what they say" approach and builds a few straw arguments, such as "he's unfairly accused of repeating himself" or "the fashion moved to abstract art," which if true wouldn't explain the continued success of his near-contemporaries Giacometti and Bacon. Nevertheless, Buffet led a colorful life and the book is undeniably fun to read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews