Bernard Buffet

Canvas is not lined. Surface is clean. Under UV light: no inpainting is apparent.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

“The kind of popularity that bursts upon Bernard Buffet as a young painter in the 1950s is quite unparalleled in the 20^th century visual arts in terms of both its intensity and its broad social reach. Buffet’s art was, as the author Maurice Druon wrote as late as the mid-1960s, “on the street”. It was to be found on the covers of magazines and LPs, on postcards, postage stamps, wall plates, giftwrap and plastic bags. Posters designed by him for events had to be protected by barriers from fans who sought to appropriate them, and visitors pushed their way into his exhibition, a contemporary art critic wrote in 1957, “as if it were a world title boxing match or they were trying to catch a glimpse of the Queen of England.” The art of Modernism and postmodernism has known only one real pop star, and he was not called Picasso, Dalí, or even Warhol, but went by the name of Bernard Buffet” (Alexander Roob, “Bernard Buffet: Terrain vague – Terrain dangereux” in Bernard Buffet, Maler. Painter. Peintre. (exhibition catalogue), Frankfurt, 2008, p. 43).

Bernard Buffet may well be one of the most controversial artists in recent memory: from the inception of his career to the present day, the artist had been everything from an overnight millionaire, a popstar and an iconoclast to a recluse; his works have been called everything from challenging, Kitsch and, “taboo” to transformative; they have been celebrated, abandoned and celebrated once again. Yet whether Buffet’s works are loved or hated, it is impossible to ignore the fierce response they evoke. The following five lots represented one of the finest groupings of his work available in a single auction. From clowns to landscapes to still-lifes, these images have a confrontational quality that is both brutal yet provocative. Thick slabs of paint are applied through the use of a broad palette knife. Coarse, physical, and intense, there is a tension innate in Buffet’s works that ultimately imbues them with the power to withstand the test of time.