This is a sandbox "working" version for Émile Bernard.
This file will be speedy deleted after its content has been pasted to the article, which imo needs too much re-writing to be edited directly. Please do not edit here if you want to show up in the article's history. Otherwise, you're welcome to edit, or consider to add constructive comments to Talk:Émile_Bernard.
→not to be confused with the French painter and architect Émile Bénard, 1844-1929
Émile Bernard ( April 28, 1868 – April 16, 1941) was "a poet, painter, engraver, sculptor, architect, novelist, playwright, and art critic" whose aim was, at last, to become an artiste complet like the masters of Renaissance he admired. [1]
The artist however is best known as a Post-Impressionist painter who maintained close relations to Van Gogh and Gauguin and, at a later time, to Cézanne. Most of his well-remembered work was accomplished at a young age, in the years 1886 through 1897. Less known is Bernard's literary work. His art critical as well as art historical statements contain first hand information on the crucial period of modern art to which Bernard had contributed.
Émile Bernard was born in Lille, France in 1868, to an employé of the textile industry. As in his younger years his sister was sick more often than once, Émile was unable to receive much attention from the parents and stayed with his grandmother, Sophie Bodin-Lallement, who owned a successful laundry business with some 20 employed in Lille. She was an important supporter when Émile wanted to become an artist. He soon moved to Paris and attended the College Sainte-Barbe.
He began his studies at the École des Arts Décoratifs, befriending fellow artists Louis Anquetin and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. He joined the Atelier Cormon in Paris in 1884 where he experimented with impressionism and pointillism. After being suspended from the École des Beaux-Arts for “showing expressive tendencies in his paintings”, he toured Brittany on foot, where he was enamored by the tradition and landscape.
In August 1886, Bernard met Gauguin in Pont-Aven. In this brief meeting, they exchanged little about art, but looked forward to meeting again. Bernard said, looking back on that time, that “my own talent was already fully developed.” He believed that his style may have played a part in the development of Gauguin’s mature style.
Bernard spent September 1887 at the coast, where he painted La Grandmère, a portrait of his grandmother. [2] He continued talking with other painters and started saying good things about Gauguin. Bernard went back to Paris, met with Van Gogh, who as we already stated was impressed by his work, found a restaurant to show the work alongside Van Gogh, Anquetin, and Lautrec’s work at the Avenue Clichy. Van Gogh, called group the School of Petit-Boulevard.
One year later, Bernard set out for Pont-Aven by foot and saw Gauguin. Their friendship and artistic relationship grew strong quickly. By this time Bernard had developed many theories about his artwork and what he wanted it to be. He stated that he had “a desire to [find] an art that would be of the most extreme simplicity and that would be accessible to all, so as not to practice its individuality, but collectively…” Gauguin was impressed by Bernard’s ability to verbalize his ideas.
1888 was a seminal year in the history of Modern art. From October, 23 till December, 23 Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh worked together in Arles. Gauguin had brought his new style from Pont-Aven exemplified in Vision of the Sermon, a powerful work of visual symbolism of which he had already sent a sketch to Van Gogh in September.
Besides, he brought along Bernard's Le Pardon de Pont-Aven which he had exchanged for one of his paintings and which he used to decorate the shared workshop.
[3]Cite error: A <ref>
tag is missing the closing </ref>
(see the
help page).
At Père Tanguy's shop, he first saw some of
Cézanne's paintings. Toulouse-Lautrec and Anquetin introduced young Bernard to Montmartre's night life. In 1885, Bernard created his first important work, the woodblock La Nativité.
After having been expelled by Cormon for insubordinate behaviour
[4]in early spring, 1886, his parents tried to convince him to work in business, which he refused.
Financially supported by the parents, Bernard instead went on a foot trip to Brittanny. Recommended by
Claude-Émile Schuffenecker, whom he had met at Concarneau, he went to Pont-Aven in July, to see Gauguin who however at first did not recognize Bernard's talent. Returned home after two months, he moved in with his parents, visited the
Salon des Indépendants and saw the work of
Georges Seurat and
Paul Signac.
Bernard theorized a style of painting with bold forms separated by dark contours which became known as cloisonnism. His work showed geometric tendencies which hinted at influences of Paul Cézanne, and he collaborated with Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh.
Many say that it was Bernard’s friend Anquetin, who should receive the credit for this “closisonisme” technique. During the spring of 1887, Bernard and Anquetin “turned against Neo-Impressionism.” citation needed It is also likely that Bernard was influenced by the works he had seen of Cézanne. But Bernard says “When I was in Brittany, I was inspired by “everything that is superfluous in a spectacle is covering it with reality and occupying our eyes instead of our mind. You have to simplify the spectacle in order to make some sense of it. You have, in a way, to draw its plan.” citation needed
"The first means that I use is to simplify nature to an extreme point. I reduce the lines only to the main contrasts and I reduce the colors to the seven fundamental colors of the prism. To see a style and not an item. To highlight the abstract sense and not the objective. And the second means were to appeal to the conception and to the memory by extracting yourself from any direct atmosphere. Appeal more to internal memory and conception. There I was expressing myself more, it was me that I was describing, although I was in front of the nature. There was an invisible meaning under the mute shape of exteriority." citation needed
Symbolism and religious motifs appear in both Bernard and Gauguin's work. During the summer of 1889, Bernard was alone in Le Pouldu and began to paint many religious canvasses. He was upset that he had to do commercial work at the same time that he wanted to create these pieces. Bernard wrote about his relationship with this the style of symbolism in many letters, articles, and statements. He said that it was of a Christian essence, divine language. Bernard believed that it “It is the invisible express by the visible,” citation needed and those previous attempts of religious symbolism failed. That period of symbolism represented the nature of beauty, but did not find the truth in the beauty. Art until the renaissance was based on the invisible rather than the visible, the idea, not the shapes or concrete. The history of the painting of symbols was spiritual. Everything, meaning symbols, were forgotten with the paganist ideas and doctrines. That is what Bernard was attempting to accomplish with the rebirth of symbolism in 1890. In his idea of the new symbolism, he concentrated on maintaining a grounded art, more authentic in Bernard’s mind meant reducing impressionism, not creating an optical trip like Georges-Pierre Seurat, but simplifying the actual symbol.
His concept was that through ideas, not technique, the truth is found.
His correspondence with other artists is of great art historical interest. Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Bernard traded ideas and art. Many letter sent from Van Gogh and Gauguin to Bernard give historians a better idea of the artists lives and connection to their artwork.
It was always Émile Bernard's great frustration that Paul Gauguin never mentioned him as an influence on pictorial symbolism (see for instance his own notes attached to the Belgian edition (1942) of his selected letters, published shortly after his death).
In 2001/2002 The Art Institute of Chicago and the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam held a joint exhibition: Van Gogh and Gauguin:The Workshop of the South that put Émile Bernard's contribution in perspective. [3]
One of Émile Bernard's students was the Swedish painter Ivan Aguéli.
ca:Émile Bernard cs:Émile Bernard de:Émile Bernard es:Émile Bernard fr:Émile Bernard it:Émile Bernard nl:Émile Bernard pl:Émile Bernard pt:Émile Bernard ru:Бернар, Эмиль sv:Émile Bernard
This is a sandbox "working" version for Émile Bernard.
This file will be speedy deleted after its content has been pasted to the article, which imo needs too much re-writing to be edited directly. Please do not edit here if you want to show up in the article's history. Otherwise, you're welcome to edit, or consider to add constructive comments to Talk:Émile_Bernard.
→not to be confused with the French painter and architect Émile Bénard, 1844-1929
Émile Bernard ( April 28, 1868 – April 16, 1941) was "a poet, painter, engraver, sculptor, architect, novelist, playwright, and art critic" whose aim was, at last, to become an artiste complet like the masters of Renaissance he admired. [1]
The artist however is best known as a Post-Impressionist painter who maintained close relations to Van Gogh and Gauguin and, at a later time, to Cézanne. Most of his well-remembered work was accomplished at a young age, in the years 1886 through 1897. Less known is Bernard's literary work. His art critical as well as art historical statements contain first hand information on the crucial period of modern art to which Bernard had contributed.
Émile Bernard was born in Lille, France in 1868, to an employé of the textile industry. As in his younger years his sister was sick more often than once, Émile was unable to receive much attention from the parents and stayed with his grandmother, Sophie Bodin-Lallement, who owned a successful laundry business with some 20 employed in Lille. She was an important supporter when Émile wanted to become an artist. He soon moved to Paris and attended the College Sainte-Barbe.
He began his studies at the École des Arts Décoratifs, befriending fellow artists Louis Anquetin and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. He joined the Atelier Cormon in Paris in 1884 where he experimented with impressionism and pointillism. After being suspended from the École des Beaux-Arts for “showing expressive tendencies in his paintings”, he toured Brittany on foot, where he was enamored by the tradition and landscape.
In August 1886, Bernard met Gauguin in Pont-Aven. In this brief meeting, they exchanged little about art, but looked forward to meeting again. Bernard said, looking back on that time, that “my own talent was already fully developed.” He believed that his style may have played a part in the development of Gauguin’s mature style.
Bernard spent September 1887 at the coast, where he painted La Grandmère, a portrait of his grandmother. [2] He continued talking with other painters and started saying good things about Gauguin. Bernard went back to Paris, met with Van Gogh, who as we already stated was impressed by his work, found a restaurant to show the work alongside Van Gogh, Anquetin, and Lautrec’s work at the Avenue Clichy. Van Gogh, called group the School of Petit-Boulevard.
One year later, Bernard set out for Pont-Aven by foot and saw Gauguin. Their friendship and artistic relationship grew strong quickly. By this time Bernard had developed many theories about his artwork and what he wanted it to be. He stated that he had “a desire to [find] an art that would be of the most extreme simplicity and that would be accessible to all, so as not to practice its individuality, but collectively…” Gauguin was impressed by Bernard’s ability to verbalize his ideas.
1888 was a seminal year in the history of Modern art. From October, 23 till December, 23 Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh worked together in Arles. Gauguin had brought his new style from Pont-Aven exemplified in Vision of the Sermon, a powerful work of visual symbolism of which he had already sent a sketch to Van Gogh in September.
Besides, he brought along Bernard's Le Pardon de Pont-Aven which he had exchanged for one of his paintings and which he used to decorate the shared workshop.
[3]Cite error: A <ref>
tag is missing the closing </ref>
(see the
help page).
At Père Tanguy's shop, he first saw some of
Cézanne's paintings. Toulouse-Lautrec and Anquetin introduced young Bernard to Montmartre's night life. In 1885, Bernard created his first important work, the woodblock La Nativité.
After having been expelled by Cormon for insubordinate behaviour
[4]in early spring, 1886, his parents tried to convince him to work in business, which he refused.
Financially supported by the parents, Bernard instead went on a foot trip to Brittanny. Recommended by
Claude-Émile Schuffenecker, whom he had met at Concarneau, he went to Pont-Aven in July, to see Gauguin who however at first did not recognize Bernard's talent. Returned home after two months, he moved in with his parents, visited the
Salon des Indépendants and saw the work of
Georges Seurat and
Paul Signac.
Bernard theorized a style of painting with bold forms separated by dark contours which became known as cloisonnism. His work showed geometric tendencies which hinted at influences of Paul Cézanne, and he collaborated with Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh.
Many say that it was Bernard’s friend Anquetin, who should receive the credit for this “closisonisme” technique. During the spring of 1887, Bernard and Anquetin “turned against Neo-Impressionism.” citation needed It is also likely that Bernard was influenced by the works he had seen of Cézanne. But Bernard says “When I was in Brittany, I was inspired by “everything that is superfluous in a spectacle is covering it with reality and occupying our eyes instead of our mind. You have to simplify the spectacle in order to make some sense of it. You have, in a way, to draw its plan.” citation needed
"The first means that I use is to simplify nature to an extreme point. I reduce the lines only to the main contrasts and I reduce the colors to the seven fundamental colors of the prism. To see a style and not an item. To highlight the abstract sense and not the objective. And the second means were to appeal to the conception and to the memory by extracting yourself from any direct atmosphere. Appeal more to internal memory and conception. There I was expressing myself more, it was me that I was describing, although I was in front of the nature. There was an invisible meaning under the mute shape of exteriority." citation needed
Symbolism and religious motifs appear in both Bernard and Gauguin's work. During the summer of 1889, Bernard was alone in Le Pouldu and began to paint many religious canvasses. He was upset that he had to do commercial work at the same time that he wanted to create these pieces. Bernard wrote about his relationship with this the style of symbolism in many letters, articles, and statements. He said that it was of a Christian essence, divine language. Bernard believed that it “It is the invisible express by the visible,” citation needed and those previous attempts of religious symbolism failed. That period of symbolism represented the nature of beauty, but did not find the truth in the beauty. Art until the renaissance was based on the invisible rather than the visible, the idea, not the shapes or concrete. The history of the painting of symbols was spiritual. Everything, meaning symbols, were forgotten with the paganist ideas and doctrines. That is what Bernard was attempting to accomplish with the rebirth of symbolism in 1890. In his idea of the new symbolism, he concentrated on maintaining a grounded art, more authentic in Bernard’s mind meant reducing impressionism, not creating an optical trip like Georges-Pierre Seurat, but simplifying the actual symbol.
His concept was that through ideas, not technique, the truth is found.
His correspondence with other artists is of great art historical interest. Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Bernard traded ideas and art. Many letter sent from Van Gogh and Gauguin to Bernard give historians a better idea of the artists lives and connection to their artwork.
It was always Émile Bernard's great frustration that Paul Gauguin never mentioned him as an influence on pictorial symbolism (see for instance his own notes attached to the Belgian edition (1942) of his selected letters, published shortly after his death).
In 2001/2002 The Art Institute of Chicago and the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam held a joint exhibition: Van Gogh and Gauguin:The Workshop of the South that put Émile Bernard's contribution in perspective. [3]
One of Émile Bernard's students was the Swedish painter Ivan Aguéli.
ca:Émile Bernard cs:Émile Bernard de:Émile Bernard es:Émile Bernard fr:Émile Bernard it:Émile Bernard nl:Émile Bernard pl:Émile Bernard pt:Émile Bernard ru:Бернар, Эмиль sv:Émile Bernard