Alain Bonnefoit (b. 1937), Nude of a lying woman, 1995

Color lithograph on Arches velin paper.
Dimensions 58 x 41.5 cm, 69.5 x 53 cm (sheet)
Artwork hand-signed in pencil, p.d.: Alain Bonnefoit 95,
l.d. 96/175 (limited edition)

Born in Montmartre, Paris, in 1937, Bonnefoit is one of the most highly regarded contemporary nude painters. Bonnefoit entered L'Ecole des Arts Appliqué and L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1953, later going to L'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Brussels to study printmaking and sculpture. In 1962, he returned to Paris, where he studied with renowned sculptor Antoniucci Volti. It was under Volti's influence that Bonnefoit began to devote himself to drawing and painting the female nude.
Bonnefoit is a master of the art of Sumi-e: an East Asian form of ink painting. The practice of Sumi-e, very difficult to master and unusual because of its winding and fluid use of lines, gave Bonnefoit a unique understanding of the expression of the female nude. This skill and understanding is evident throughout his work.
Bonnefoit's distinctive style, with its characteristically sensual and elegant depiction of the female body, includes the use of oils, watercolor, crayon, ink and pencil.
Major retrospectives of Bonnefoit's work have been held at the Marino Marini Museum in Florence, as well as museums in Korea and Germany. His works can be found in the art collections of the French government and the city of Paris, the Boccaccio Museum in Certaldo and the Kwan Ju Museum in Korea.