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拍品專文
When Abstract Expressionism began to dominate the international art scene after World War II, Bernard Buffet persisted with painting figurative works and aligned himself with L’Homme Témoin, an art group formed of predominantly young French painters to promote an expressive style of Social Realism, in opposition to the prevailing taste for abstraction. A key member of the Parisian post-war art scene, Buffet achieved fame at a young age and would often be compared to Pablo Picasso for his prolific output and unique, non-conformist style.
Bernard Buffet first turned to the subject of clowns and the circus in 1955. He would paint his clowns using flamboyant colors and expressive brushwork, yet depict them with solemn or flat expressions, revealing a stark contrast between their appearance and inner world. In this vein, Buffet followed the early 20th century’s avant-garde tradition of representing circus performers as marginalized figures and story-tellers, sometimes even standing in for the artists themselves, evoking the challenges and magic of their vocation. Clowns remained a key motif throughout Buffet’s oeuvre and would become some of his most celebrated subjects, evolving into different characters, varying in costume and persona.
Executed in 1967, the present work is painted in Buffet’s unmistakable style: the protagonist is outlined with dramatic black lines, combined with flat areas of vivid color, enhancing the portrait’s intensity. While the figure in Le Cri doesn’t have Buffet’s clowns’ characteristic red nose, it has their iconic electric red hair, white skin, mole and blasé gaze. The protagonist in Le Cri also stands out within Buffet’s clowns due to its scream, which gives the painting its name. The subject is clearly reminiscent of Edvard Munch’s Skrik (The Scream), however, while the protagonist in Munch’s painting is petrified and filled with dread, Le Cri’s is dead-eyed and listless, giving its scream a futile quality and in so doing, speaking to the absurdity of the human experience.
In Le Cri, the figure’s green shirt also reveals a star at right, the same star Nazi officials used as badges to identify Jews between 1939 and 1945. This star reminds us of Buffet’s earlier miserabilist paintings, which included scenes of poverty and portraits of Holocaust victims. Partly influence by his contemporaries, such as painter Francis Gruber, these works also reflect Buffet’s own experience of growing up in Paris during the occupation.
Buffet’s distinctive graphic style and use of color have left a legacy in modern art history that continues to influence new generations of contemporary artists who use figurative elements to convey complex concepts and ideas. Le Cri stands out as one of the most iconic and important paintings within this very legacy; indeed, Buffet was so pleased with Le Cri that he created a lithograph edition of 250 prints of the subject in 1968, a year after the present work was painted.
Bernard Buffet first turned to the subject of clowns and the circus in 1955. He would paint his clowns using flamboyant colors and expressive brushwork, yet depict them with solemn or flat expressions, revealing a stark contrast between their appearance and inner world. In this vein, Buffet followed the early 20th century’s avant-garde tradition of representing circus performers as marginalized figures and story-tellers, sometimes even standing in for the artists themselves, evoking the challenges and magic of their vocation. Clowns remained a key motif throughout Buffet’s oeuvre and would become some of his most celebrated subjects, evolving into different characters, varying in costume and persona.
Executed in 1967, the present work is painted in Buffet’s unmistakable style: the protagonist is outlined with dramatic black lines, combined with flat areas of vivid color, enhancing the portrait’s intensity. While the figure in Le Cri doesn’t have Buffet’s clowns’ characteristic red nose, it has their iconic electric red hair, white skin, mole and blasé gaze. The protagonist in Le Cri also stands out within Buffet’s clowns due to its scream, which gives the painting its name. The subject is clearly reminiscent of Edvard Munch’s Skrik (The Scream), however, while the protagonist in Munch’s painting is petrified and filled with dread, Le Cri’s is dead-eyed and listless, giving its scream a futile quality and in so doing, speaking to the absurdity of the human experience.
In Le Cri, the figure’s green shirt also reveals a star at right, the same star Nazi officials used as badges to identify Jews between 1939 and 1945. This star reminds us of Buffet’s earlier miserabilist paintings, which included scenes of poverty and portraits of Holocaust victims. Partly influence by his contemporaries, such as painter Francis Gruber, these works also reflect Buffet’s own experience of growing up in Paris during the occupation.
Buffet’s distinctive graphic style and use of color have left a legacy in modern art history that continues to influence new generations of contemporary artists who use figurative elements to convey complex concepts and ideas. Le Cri stands out as one of the most iconic and important paintings within this very legacy; indeed, Buffet was so pleased with Le Cri that he created a lithograph edition of 250 prints of the subject in 1968, a year after the present work was painted.