• EMILE BERNARD

    EMILE BERNARD

    Emile Henri Bernard was a French artist, who remains deeply associated with the development of the Synthetist and Cloisonnist movements and the evolution of art in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. 

    Also a poet and an essayist, he extensively contributed to the exploration of new theories in arts. The publication of his correspondences with Vincent Van Gogh, and later Paul Cezanne, helped to consolidate our knowledge and understanding of modern art.

  • The Initiation

    Born in Lille, and raised by his grandmother who encouraged his love of art. Bernard then moved, with his family, to Paris in 1878 and joined the Atelier Cormon. Here, he met the fellow artists, Louis Anquetin and Henri de Toulouse Lautrec. 
    In 1886, Bernard, then only eighteen years old, began a trip to Brittany where he later settled in Pont-Aven and would meet with Paul Gauguin for the first time. It was in Pont-Aven that Bernard continued his lessons in Plein-Air painting, which allowed him to keep close proximity to Neo-Impressionists and slowly experiment with new techniques.

  • Towards Synthetism
  • After Bernard’s departure from Cormon's studio at the beginning of 1886, he adopted a practical technique of short strokes and dots, borrowed from the Neo-Impressionist movement. In the autumn, the artist returned to Paris and met with his former fellow student, Louis Anquetin. Anquetin had pursued new research based on coloured glass effects, a technique called Cloisonism because of its associations with enamel cloisonnés.
     
    Bernard met Vincent van Gogh, also a student from Cormon's studio. Through their acquaintance, Bernard was introduced to Japanese woodblock prints, particularly those in the exhibition organized by van Gogh at the Café du Tambourin on Boulevard de Clichy, which started on March 22, 1887.
     
    The three artists frequently visited the small shop of Père Tanguy to see the artwork of Paul Cézanne. In March 1887, after a meeting with Paul Signac, Bernard moved away from a Neo-Impressionist technique towards a new style characterized by the simplification of coloured planes, the power of decorative lines, and the boldness of compositions—the foundations of Synthetism were being established.
    A few landscapes painted from the Seine riverside at the end of winter 1887 illustrate Bernard’s artistic evolution: Le Pont d'Asnières (Museum of Modern Art, New York)  and Vue du Pont d'Asnières (Brest Fine Art Museum).

  • Towards Synthetism

  • “ I reduce the lines only to the main contrasts and I reduce the colours to the seven fundamental colors of the prism.”

    “You have to simplify the spectacle in order to make some sense of it.” Emile Bernard

  • Emile Bernard, Nature morte avec fleurs et orange, 1886

    Emile Bernard

    Nature morte avec fleurs et orange, 1886
    Oil on canvas
    41.5 x 33 cm
    16.3 x 13 inches
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  • Pont-Aven School

    The years 1887 and 1888 were crucial in marking Bernard’s transition from Neo-Impressionism to the developing Synthetism, where he engaged a more symbolist vision of Nature. Cloisonism, as a style of painting, is defined by the purity of its compositions: the simplification of forms in the schematisation of nature and the use of bold colours, emphasized by simple and clear contours. Sharing his time between Asnieres and another trip to Brittany, Bernard began a close friendship with Vincent Van Gogh, as they exchanged and reflected on painting. Both artists were influenced by Japonism and the Dutch Old Masters. This encouraged a subsequent development of new forms of colour and styles which aroused new sets of feelings. 
    His various trips to Pont-Aven would lead to an exceptionalquality of works heralding the new Synthetistic style, as an essential Modern movement.

  • Friendships

  • Eugène & Anna Boch

    Eugène & Anna Boch

    Eugène Boch (1855–1941) was a Belgian painter associated with the Impressionist movement. Born on September 1, 1855, in Saint-Vaast, La Louvière, Belgium, he came from a wealthy family known for their ceramics business, Villeroy & Boch. Boch studied art in Antwerp and later in Paris under renowned artists like Léon Bonnat and Fernand Cormon. There, Boch met Vincent Van Gogh and Émile Bernard. Bernard and Boch became friends and developed a strong artistic connection, as attested by the numerous letters exchanged between them. Boch also supported Bernard at a time when his works were difficult to sell and introduced him to other artistic circles.

     

    Anna Boch (1848–1936) was a Belgian painter and a significant figure in the Impressionist movement in Belgium. Born into the wealthy Boch family, she was the sister of Eugène Boch. Anna Boch was an accomplished artist and an influential art patron and collector. She introduced Émile Bernard's works to Belgian circles and commissioned from him the "Paravent des Quatre Saisons," a four-panel screen that illustrates Bernard's research on decorative and synthetic patterns.  She introduced numerous French artists to the Belgium scene through the XXeme a series of exhibitions organized by her cousin Octave Maus.

  • Cabinets and Decorative Works

    Around the 1890s, Emile Bernard became particularly interested in decorative patterns. Drawing on his experience in cloisonnism and synthetism, and deeply influenced in 1892 by his work on tapestries for the Count of La Rochefoucauld, Bernard went on to produce an entire series of decorative compositions in medieval or Renaissance-inspired styles.
    His research into medieval symbolism had begun in 1891, around the same time as his dispute with Paul Gauguin regarding the origin of synthetism. Interested in religious themes and inspired by the Italian Primitives, he explored the reduction of forms and colors to their essentials.
    From 1889 onward, Emile Bernard cultivated a friendship with the painter and patron Eugène Boch. Boch helped Bernard financially and introduced him to his sister Anna, a neo-impressionist painter with strong connections to artistic circles, particularly in Belgium. In 1892, Anna Boch commissioned and received a four-panel work, Les Quatre Saisons, from the artist.
  • Emile Bernard, Nature morte allégorique aux fruits et au vin, 1891

    Emile Bernard

    Nature morte allégorique aux fruits et au vin, 1891
    Oil on canvas
    66 x 46 cm
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  • Emile Bernard, Nature morte allégorique aux fruits et au vin, 1891

    Decorative Pattern

    Nature morte allégorique aux fruits et au vin, 1891

    Nature morte allégorique aux fruits et au vin typically synthetic with its dark blue outlines around the fruits and objects, illustrates Bernard’s exploration of combining different elements to enhance the decorative and symbolist aspects of the composition. The reduction of details and the use of strip-line techniques in depicting the objects continue the characteristics of synthetism.