Dufour, Bernard

Bernard Dufour (19 - 20)

BeD

“La belle noiseuse”.
(The beautiful troublemaker)

(Noiseuse, French: hazzlenut girl (picker/seller). But also compare English: “nuisance”)

Bernard Dufour, a French painter started his professional life studying agricultural engineering but during his WW-II forced labour in Germany came to study and copy French and Classic masters before having a career as a successful career as a free creating artist.

In 1991 the Movie “La belle Noiseuse”, which was partly based and inspired by his life and book “La figure du Sexe, de Cro-Magnon a moi” was made by Jacques Rivette (1928-2016) , starring actors Michel Piccoli (1925-2020) and Emanuelle Beart (b. 1963) as the old painter and his beautiful young model.

The movie is about an elderly painter struggling to create a last masterpiece. At the heart of the film the actual painting (a classic "neu de dos” or reclining female nude seen from the back) is said to be by Dufour’s hand. It is only known as a still from the movie. A certain relationship, inspiration or hint to Picasso’s (1881-1973) famous blue nude painting (painted in 1902) can be recognised. The actual existence or where-about of the painting is unknown, did not became clear.

The movie obviously inspired Constant Nieuwenhuys (1920-2005) a Dutch Cobra group artist (and with Karel Appel a founding member) to paint his version of the “Belle Noiseuse”. Some research brought also an etched version (mirrored) to light and this “Odalique” also based also on Emanuelle Beart and the movie.

gerbrandcaspers@icloud.com

Hofmann, Ludwig von (Darmstadt 17-08-1861 – 23-08-1945 Berlin)

Painter, designer, graphic and printmaker. Son of Prussian statesman Karl von Hofmann (1827-1910) and Cora Kekulé von Stradonitz (1835–1897. His father served as Minister-president of the Grand Duchy of Hesse from 1872 to 1876 and was briefly Trade Minister in the cabinet of Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898. Their children:

• Sophie (b. 1860) ∞ zoologist Justus Carriere (1854-1893)

• Ludwig (1861–1945) ∞ Eleonore Kekulé von Stradonitz (b. 1876)

• Heinrich (1863–1921), “Generalleutnant” ∞ Freiin Asta von Grüter-Diepenbroik (1875–1940)

• Maria (b. 1865) ∞ Justus Thiersch (1859–1937), “Bezirksarzt”, son of surgeon Carl Thiersch (1822-1895)

• Cornelie (b. 1866) ∞ Max von Kaisenberg (1862–1916), “Oberstleutnant^”.

He worked in a combination of the Art Nouveau and Symbolist styles. His work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics.

Began his studies in 1883 at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, then studied with Ferdinand Keller (1842-1922) at the Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe. In 1889, he attended the Académie Julian in Paris, where he came under the influence of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898) and Paul-Albert Besnard (1849-1934).

After 1890, he was a freelance painter in Berlin. From 1894 to 1900, he travelled extensively and spent a great deal of his time at his villa in Fiesole. His appreciation of antiquity and attraction to the idea of Arcadia permeates much of his work. After 1895, he was a regular contributor of illustrations for the Art Nouveau magazine Pan. In 1896, he became a member of the Berlin Secession and he was married in 1899. He was also a member of the Deutscher Künstlerbund

In 1903, he was appointed a Professor at the Weimar Saxon Grand Ducal Art School, where he became a member of the avant-garde literary and artistic group centred around Harry Graf Kessler (1868-1937). Jean Arp (1886-1936) and Ivo Hauptmann (1886-1973) were among his students. In 1916, he was named a Professor at the Academy in Dresden, where he remained until 1931. He also provided illustrations for a new translation of the Odyssey by philosopher Leopold Ziegler (1881-1958) and works by Gerhart Hauptmann (1882-1946) Ivo’s father.

His overall production slackened in the 1930s and, in 1937, some of his works were labeled as "degenerate art". He retired to Pillnitz, near Dresden, where he died in 1945. His remaining works were almost confiscated by the Russians after the war, but his widow managed to save them.

See: Hauptmann, Ivo

Read more about the artists, their lives, families and careers in the new and extensive Artist Lexicon: “DAS HAUS DER FRAU, the short biographies” accompanying this exhibition.

Hundreds of new artist biographies, a private publication in 2 Volumes written conveniently in English.

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