Bernard Emile

Biography

Émile Bernard, born April 28, 1868 in Lille and died April 16, 1941 in Paris, is a French painter, engraver and writer. A post-impressionist artist associated with the Pont-Aven school, he frequented Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Eugène Boch, and Paul Cézanne.
Bernard is recognized for his contributions to cloisonnism with Louis Anquetin and Paul Gauguin, and for his explorations in synthetism and symbolism. After a stay in Egypt (1893-1904), he returned to a classicism inspired by the old masters. He is also the author of poetry, novels, and art criticism under the pseudonym Jean Dorsal.
He began engraving wood, copper and zinc in 1886 and collaborated with the publisher Ambroise Vollard from 1915 to illustrate luxury works. Bernard produced more than two thousand woodcuts during his career.
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Excluded from Fernand Cormon's studio in 1886, he travelled to Normandy and Brittany, met Émile Schuffenecker, and settled in Pont-Aven where he initiated cloisonnism. In 1889, he lost the financial support of his family and moved to Lille. He returned to Paris in 1890 and attended the funeral of Vincent van Gogh. After a definitive break with Gauguin in 1891, he participated in the Rosicrucian salons and the exhibitions of Impressionist and Symbolist painters.