Emile Bernard 1868-1941: A Pioneer of Modern Art (1990)

Text in German and English

This catalogue, to which several internationally renowned specialists have contributed, calls for the first time all aspects of the oeuvre of this versatile artist. Bernard’s paintings are treated extensively, but also his drawings, prints, and illustrative and decorative work. His literary and critical writings receive special attention and serve to explain his fascinating rejection of modern art. Separate essays are devoted to Bernard’s artistic relationships with Van Gogh and Gauguin respectively.

Around 1888, when he was in his early twenties, Émile Bernard, a prominent member of the Parisian avant-garde, joined a movement inspired by Japanese art and popular prints. He developed a new and very personal painting style, reducing his subjects to flat planes of colour surrounded by bold outlines. These new ideas and artistic innovations made him a pioneer of modern art, even though the impact of his role has not always been sufficiently recognized. In Paris, the young, intelligent, and radical Bernard was a friend of Van Gogh, with whom he worked and subsequently corresponded in an intense and fruitful way. Bernard’s ideas, inspired and inspiring, are present in the work of Paul Gauguin, an associate of Van Gogh. Bernard came to reject modernism in later life and developed a deeply naturalist and strongly historicising style. Bernard wrote extensively on art and was one of the first to draw attention to the works of Van Gogh, Cézanne, and Redon.

Condition: very good.