Christian Bérard, Boris Kochno, 1930, oil on cardboardBoris Kochno collection, Parisvia: The Red Lis
Christian Bérard, Boris Kochno, 1930, oil on cardboardBoris Kochno collection, Parisvia: The Red ListChristian Berard (1902 - 1949)The son of a Parisian architect, Christian Bérard studies from 1920 at the Académie Ranson under the authority of Nabi painters such as Maurice Denis and Edouard Vuillard. Fascinated by Italian Gothic paintings, he sets himself up as a critic of the modernist movement, alongside Léonide and Eugène Berman, Pavel Tchelitchev as well as Francis Rose with whom he sets the standards for a poetic aesthetic entitled ‘neo-humanist’. In the early 1930s, he collaborates with Jean Cocteau who introduced him to stage and costume design, therefore working with such figures as Serge Lifar, Louis Jouvet and Jean-Louis Barrault- his most iconic creation being the enchanted designs of Jean Cocteau’s film, La Belle et la Bête, in 1946. Incarnating with his lover, Boris Kochno, at the head of the Ballets Russes and the co-founder of the Ballet des Champs Elysées, a modern and sulfurous openly homosexual couple, Christian Bérard also delighted the fashion crowd whom he inspired with his eccentric outfits and for whom he imagined delightful illustrations. The prince of Parisian nightlife, the artist was called Bébé by his friends who celebrated his kindness and his chubby features before he dramatically died on the stage of the Théatre Marigny just after having cried 'it’s over’. -- source link
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