Bernard Buffet

Private Collection (acquired circa 1990)
Acquired from the above by the present owner

This works is in very good condition. Canvas is unlined. An incredibly rich and textured impasto on the surface is beautifully preserved. Some cracking in the brown pigment at lower right and in the black of the vase near the upper right of the vase. Under UV light a vertical line of inpainting is visible in the brown pigment at lower right as well as another spot also in the brown pigment, otherwise fine.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Despite the genre’s association with tranquility and silence, Buffet’s exuberant still lifes hardly appear inanimate. Bouquet de zinnias proves no exception, as the artist contains his famed liveliness of color within the narrow confines of an ostensibly quiet interior scene. That Buffet produced over a dozen floral still lifes should come as no surprise when one considers his life-long reverence of natural elements and fervent desire to live among them.

His wife Annabel writes of his distaste for the surroundings of his Parisian upbringing and his attraction to rural life: “Born in Paris, and brought up by a loving mother in a small apartment, he could escape the concrete and stone only during those brief breaks from school… As soon as he was old enough to choose, he fled the crowds, the noise, the agitation of the city that suffocated him” (Annabel Buffet, Bernard Buffet: Paris (exhibition catalogue), Galerie Tamenaga, New York, 1989, n.p.).