POETRY in MOTION: Ceramics by Jean Lurçat and Paintings by Georges Bernède

LURÇAT BERNÈDE

WHITFORD F I N E A R T 6 DUKE STREET ST. JAMES’S LONDON SW1Y 6BN TEL.+44(0)20 7930 9332 info@whitfordfineart.com w w w. w h i t f o r d f i n e a r t . c o m

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Ceramics by

JEAN LURÇAT Paintings by

GEORGES BERNÈDE

12 November – 12 December 2014

All Works are for Sale

WHITFORD F I N E A R T

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

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Poetry in Motion Whitford Fine Art is proud to present an exhibition of French artists Jean Lurçat and Georges Bernède. Bringing together two artists from different generations, traditions, and backgrounds, the exhibition shows their common ground of the universal themes of freedom, movement and poetry.

An important and successful painter of the School of Paris, Jean Lurçat singlehandedly revived tapestry-making as an art form during the 1930s. Lurçat’s artistic eye simultaneously wandered towards a multitude of other media, including engraving, book illustrations and - most notably - ceramics. During the 1950’s Lurçat worked away abundantly at the ceramic workshops of Sant-Vicens in the Southern French city of Perpignan.

Imaginary and mythological sea and wood creatures and foliage are winding their ways in thickly applied saturated colours overlaid with brilliant glaze. These designs demonstrate Lurçat’s fondness of the symbolic and poetry which formed the core of his artistic expression. Thus a plate, a bowl, a jug or a tile, becomes an object of beauty and exquisiteness. Lurçat’s poetry is ultimately derived from the excellence of the Art Nouveau style.

Georges Bernède's quest for poetry and beauty on the other hand was achieved through his own human struggle. The son of a local carpenter in the bastide of Monsegur, near Bordeaux, Bernède was mocked for wanting to become a painter. Bordeaux is notoriously known for its conservatism and its painters did not warm to Abstraction until the mid1950s, twenty years after Abstraction became a recognized movement in Paris.

Bernède painted in solitude and his work was rarely shown. Consequently he did not suffer any pressure to conform to any commercial demand or intellectual expectations and had the chance to explore art freely. In his continuous search to express the poetry of Life, Bernède tried to establish an analogy to musical rhythm in his painting and thus naturally grew to gestural painting, partnered with a monochrome palette. Whilst being deceptively subtle, Bernède’s paintings show dramatic movement and impact through the energetic application of the paint.

Whilst both artists were born to the same artistic spirit France during the first half of the twentieth century, the difference in their artistic outputs offers a dynamic juxtaposition of vibrant colours and monochromatic intensity, dream-like figuration and virile abstraction.

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21 JEAN LURÇAT

Sea Creatures, c.1955 Glazed ceramic 21 x 37 cm Inscribed "Dessin J. Lurçat Sant Vicens, B - Z, 1/150" underneath

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7 GEORGES BERNÈDE

Composition 90 – 17, 1990 90 x 65 cm Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower right Signed and dated verso

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18 GEORGES BERNÈDE

Composition, 1991 65 x 50 cm Ink on paper Signed and dated lower centre and verso

11 GEORGES BERNÈDE

Composition, 1988 76 x 56.5 cm Ink on paper Signed and dated lower centre

13 GEORGES BERNÈDE

Composition, 1991 76 x 56.5 cm Ink on paper Signed and dated lower centre and verso

16 GEORGES BERNÈDE

Composition, 1991 65 x 50 cm Ink on paper Signed and dated lower right and verso

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19 JEAN LURÇAT

Autumn, c.1955 Glazed ceramic 34 cm high Inscribed "Dessin J. Lurçat Sant Vicens, L.G." underneath

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1 GEORGES BERNÈDE

Composition 86-2, 1986 Oil on canvas 97 x 130 cm Signed and dated lower right Signed, dated and inscribed verso

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31 JEAN LURÇAT

Living Universe, c.1955 Glazed ceramic 36 x 54 cm Inscribed verso

34 JEAN LURÇAT

Jester, c.1955 Glazed ceramic 25 cm diameter Inscribed verso

32 JEAN LURÇAT

Siren, c.1955 Glazed ceramic 25 cm diameter Inscribed verso

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9 GEORGES BERNÈDE

Composition 90 – 05, 1990 Oil on canvas 130 x 89 cm Signed and dated lower right Signed, dated and inscribed verso

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2 GEORGES BERNÈDE

Composition 90 – 03, 1990 Oil on canvas 130 x 89 cm Signed and dated lower centre Signed, dated and inscribed verso

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3 GEORGES BERNÈDE

Composition 80, 1980 Oil on canvas 45.5 x 38 cm Signed and dated lower right

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36 JEAN LURÇAT

Rooster, c.1955 Glazed ceramic 20 x 20 cm Inscribed verso

37 JEAN LURÇAT

Cockerel, c.1955 Glazed ceramic 20 x 20 cm Inscribed verso

© Whitford Fine Art Exhibition management Gabriel Toso Text by An Jo Fermon and Renata Molina Lopes Photography by Mario Betella Produced by Artmedia Press Ltd • London

35 JEAN LURÇAT

Mermaids, c.1955 Glazed ceramic 20 x 20 cm Inscribed verso

38 JEAN LURÇAT

Cat, c.1955 Glazed ceramic 20 x 20 cm Inscribed verso

LURÇAT BERNÈDE

WHITFORD F I N E A R T 6 DUKE STREET ST. JAMES’S LONDON SW1Y 6BN TEL.+44(0)20 7930 9332 info@whitfordfineart.com w w w. w h i t f o r d f i n e a r t . c o m