ALAIN BONNEFOIT
PARIS, FRANCE | CERTALDO, ITALY
SCULPTURE IN MARBLE & BRONZE
Painter, engraver and sculptor, Alain Bonnefoit, born in Montmartre, Paris, in 1937, is one of the most highly acclaimed painters of nudes working today. Bonnefoit entered L’Ecole des Arts Appliqué and L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1953, before enrolling at the L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Brussels to study Engraving and Sculpture. In 1962 he returned to Paris to study with the renowned sculptor Antoniucci Volti, who would become his maestro in art and life.
In 1964 he arrived at the form of expression that later made him famous: the female nude. In 1965 he moved to Tuscany but kept on his studio in Paris. In 1973 he made his first trip to Japan, an experience that affected him deeply, where he discovered and studied the technique of sumi-e. He made repeated visits to the East for further in-depth study and is now a master of the technique.
Bonnefoit’s distinctive style, with its characteristically sensuous and elegant depictions of the female form, embraces the use of various techniques. In his forty year career Bonnefoit has experimented with the most varied means of expression: mixed techniques on canvas paper, oil painting, original lithography and engraving, his elegant sumi-e and sculpture. The real artistic explosion began in the early 90’s with requests for solo exhibitions increasing rapidly, together with critical and public success and outstanding shows throughout the world.
Major retrospectives of Bonnefoit’s work have been held at the Marino Marini Museum in Florence as well as at museums in Korea and Germany. Examples of his work can be found in the French Government and the City of Paris art collections, the Boccaccio museum in Certaldo and the Kwan Ju Museum in Korea. He lives between France and Italy, which he now considers his second country.
“Derrière l’élégance du trait se cache l’âme de l’artiste ; ainsi se devoile l’invisible, l’autre aspect de l’ouvre qui est pour moi l’essentiel de mon travail.”
– Alain Bonnefoit
