Updated 04 March 2024
Currently not on display
Currently not on display
Still Life with Herrings
Date | 1948 |
---|---|
Materials and Techniques | oil on canvas |
Size(cm) | 84.4 x 97.6 |
Inscriptions | Signed and dated upper right: Bernard Buffet 48 |
Credit Line | Donated by Ms. Eiko Yamamoto |
Category | Paintings |
Collection Number | P.1990-0010 |
Buffet was the miracle child of the post-war art world of Paris, bursting on the scene with his first one-man show held at the Librairie des Impressions d'Art in December 1947. This painting, created the following year, received the Prix de la Critique and was praised by many critics. At the time, Buffet was just 20 years old. The extremely limited palette, just ash tones and browns, combine with sharp black lines in an expressive form that rejects idealization. Buffet's symbolic depictions of the psychological state of post-war society, filled with unease and volatility, were overwhelmingly well-received. In that year, 1948, Buffet created this work and numerous other examples of still lifes with the same motifs. And yet, the dried herrings and coffee mill shown here, or the plucked chickens and skinned rabbits seen in other works, all stimulate the sensual pleasure of the sense of taste. The poverty ridden, brutally simple table setting is supported by a sense of nothingness, of misery. However, these works, with their direct expression of the bleak post-war world, had a sense of actuality for the viewers of their day. Conversely, as the years passed, his expression lost its impact and became more stylized, more conventional. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no.121)
Provenance
Donated by Mrs. Eiko Yamamoto, 1990.
Exhibition History
- 1991
- [Tour Exhibition] The French Modern Art, from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, The Hachinohe City Museum of Art, 28 September 1991 - 27 October 1991, cat. no. 35
- 1991
- [Tour Exhibition] The French Modern Art, from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, The Tendo City Museum of Art, Tendo, 1 November 1991 - 24 November 1991, cat. no. 35
- 1992
- [Tour Exhibition] The French Modern Art, from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, The Urasoe Art Museum, 3 November 1992 - 7 December 1992, cat. no. 35
- 1995
- [Tour Exhibition] Painting: Tradition and Innovation, Yatsushiro Municipal Museum, 14 January 1995 - 5 February 1995, cat. no. 48
- 1995
- [Tour Exhibition] Painting: Tradition and Innovation, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History, Himeji; Himeji City Museum of Art, 11 February 1995 - 12 March 1995, cat. no. 48
- 1997
- Expressiveness of Materials, National Museum of Art, Osaka, 17 April 1997 - 22 June 1997, cat. no. 96
- 2012
- [Traveling Exhibitions presenting National Art Museum Collections, Fiscal 2012] Modern European Art: From the Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, Ibara Municipal Denchu Art Museum (Okayama), 5 October 2012 - 25 November 2012, 38
Bibliography
- 1992
- The French Modern Art, from The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo (exh. cat.). The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, ed. Okinawa, Urasoe Art Museum, 1992, p. 45, cat. no. 35, col. repr
- 1994
- Annual bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. Nos. 25-26 (April 1990-March 1992), 1994, p. 55.
- 2006
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 121, col. repr.
- 2009
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 121, col. repr.