georges bernède: the advent of abstraction in bordeaux

GEORGES BERNÈDE6 DUKE STREET ST. JAMES’SL O N D O N S W 1 Y 6 B NTE L .+4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 7 9 3 0 9 3 3 2i n f o@wh i t f o r d f i n e a r t . c omwww. w h i t f o r d f i n e a r t . c om

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GEORGES BERNÈDE

14 November – 21 December 2012

6 DUKE STREET ST. JAMES’S LONDON SW1Y 6BNTEL. +44 (0)20 7930 9332 EMAIL info@whitfordfineart.com

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Born in 1926, Georges Bernède started painting in 1942 under the influence of the establishedBordeaux painter Mildred Bendall (1891-1977). Drawing on Bendall’s training with Henri Matisse,Bernède first adhered to figurative expression rooted in the Cubism of André Lhote, whilst usingstrong colour as building blocks. His disapproval of black tracing for shadows paved the way for hisresearches into Abstraction during the 1950s, when he witnessed the break-up of the Bordeauxavant-garde.

Whereas the publication of the ‘Abstraction-Creation’ yearbooks established Abstraction as amovement in Paris during 1932-1936, Bordeaux’s modern artists represented in the ‘Indépendantsbordelais’ did not value its creative virtues until the late 1940s. When some radical membersstarted to champion the Abstract works of Roger Bissière it caused severe tensions in the group,finally leading to its break-up in 1955. The conclusion of the long-established patron of theBordeaux avant-garde left a permanent schism in the local artistic landscape, with the orthodoxAbstractionists regrouping in ‘Structures’ as their semi-figurative ‘enemies’ founded ‘Le Regard’.

During these developments Bernède investigated the boundaries of Abstraction, but still showedat ‘Le Regard’, endorsed by Mildred Bendall. By 1958 however, his researches had pushed him toAbstraction and in his continuous search to express the essence of life to and to establish ananalogy to musical rhythm, Bernède gradually grew to gestural painting, first with colour, thenpartnered with a black and white palette. These works have a dynamic, spontaneous and dramaticimpact through the energetic application of the paint, whilst remaining deceptively subtle.Bernède’s paintings are easily accessible for they evoke the collective sense of an archetypal visuallanguage, and aid a civilisation’s understanding of the world through heightened self-consciousness and awareness, a concept adopted by the Action painters from Freud and Jung.

Although his work bears obvious similarities to that of Franz Kline, Bernède was never an imitator,for with Matisse and Lhote as a starting point, his style evolved instinctively through disciplinedresearch and progress, as his artistic development over the years testifies.

An Jo Fermon, November 2012

GEORGES BERNÈDE

The advent of Abstraction in Bordeaux

Front cover: Composition 84 - 30 1984 (oil on canvas, 65 x 50 cm, cat. no.1)

Back cover: Composition 91 1991 (oil on canvas, 65 x 50 cm, cat. no.10)

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11 Composition 84-17 1984

Oil on canvas, 100 x 81 cm

Signed and dated lower right, signed and dated verso

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22 Composition 58 1958

Oil on canvas, 55.5 x 50 cm

Signed and dated verso

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12 Composition 89-40 1989

Oil on canvas, 65 x 50 cm

Signed and dated lower right, signed and dated verso

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4 Composition 80-32 1980

Oil on canvas, 54 x 73 cm

Signed and dated lower right

3 Composition 81-4 1981

Oil on canvas, 81 x 100 cm

Signed and dated lower right, signed and dated verso

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7 Composition 84-1 1984

Oil on canvas, 61 x 28 cm

Signed and dated lower right, signed and dated verso

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9 Composition 92 1992

Oil on canvas, 65 x 50 cm

Signed and dated lower right, signed and dated verso

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17 Composition 85-7 1985

Oil on canvas, 116 x 89 cm

Signed and dated lower right, signed and dated verso

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21 Composition 58 1958

Oil on canvas, 38.5 x 53.5 cm

Signed and dated lower right

20 Composition 58 1958

Oil on canvas, 41.5 x 63 cm

Signed lower right

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8 Composition 84-18 1984

Oil on canvas, 104 x 94 cm

Signed and dated lower centre, signed and dated verso

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5 Composition 84-62 1984

Oil on canvas, 65 x 50 cm

Signed and dated lower right

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18 Composition 88-9 1988

Oil on canvas, 97 x 130 cm

Signed and dated lower right, signed and dated verso

15 Composition 84-22 1984

Oil on canvas, 89 x 116 cm

Signed and dated lower right, signed and dated verso

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24 Composition 64-2, Nature Morte à la Chaise Bleue 1964

Oil on canvas, 92 x 73 cm

Signed and dated lower right, signed and dated verso

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29 Composition 2011

Ink on paper, 32 x 24 cm

Signed and dated lower centre

25 Composition 2011

Ink on paper, 76 x 56.5 cm

Signed and dated lower centre

27 Composition 2011

Ink on paper, 29.5 x 21 cm

Signed and dated lower centre

26 Composition 2011

Ink on paper, 76 x 56.5 cm

Signed and dated lower centre

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16 Composition 84-6 1984

Oil on canvas, 97 x 130 cm

Signed and dated lower right, signed and dated verso

© Whitford Fine ArtEdited by An Jo FermonCurated by Gabriel TosoProduced by Artmedia Press Ltd • London

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GEORGES BERNÈDE6 DUKE STREET ST. JAMES’SL O N D O N S W 1 Y 6 B NTE L .+4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 7 9 3 0 9 3 3 2i n f o@wh i t f o r d f i n e a r t . c omwww. w h i t f o r d f i n e a r t . c om

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