Alain Bonnefoit

He was born in 1937 in Paris, in the Montmartre district.

From 1953, he attended the École des Arts Appliqués, and from 1956, the École des Beaux Arts in Paris; then, from 1959, also the École des Beaux Arts in Brussels (in the "Engraving and Sculpture" section).

From 1961, he attended the School of Applied Arts in Paris and studied under the Italian-French sculptor Antoniucci Volti, who would become his master; with him, he shared an approach to the female body and established a close working relationship and a true friendship.

In 1965, he moved to Campiglia Marittima (Li) in Tuscany, while maintaining his studio in Paris, effectively becoming an adopted Tuscan. Alain Bonnefoit intelligently adopted the flowing style of Matisse, the plastic fullness of Arp, and the dancing randomness of Dufy; all tempered in the lights and tones of Tuscany. The artist deepened the representation of the nude just before moving to Italy. Here, he began to experiment with various techniques, from mixed media on paper to oil, watercolor, lithography, ink, and sculpture, with the sole purpose of giving life to infinite variations in depicting the female body in an atmosphere of serene eroticism.

In 1969, he held his first major solo exhibition in Paris. His first trip to Japan was in 1973: an experience that profoundly marked him. There, he discovered and studied the technique of sumi-e (creating a figure with a single gesture, without ever lifting the brush from the paper), which he deepened by frequently returning to the East. His encounters with great Japanese artists and works imbued with Zen thought matured both the man and his work. Especially after learning the sumi-e technique, in the early seventies, Bonnefoit painted, "wrote" a life of looks and bodies, holding up those fragile creatures of his that a little is enough to spoil. From the late eighties, important exhibitions in Italy and France were noted. From the early nineties, a true artistic explosion: many solo exhibitions, as well as critical and public success. To date, he has held over 200 solo exhibitions worldwide. He currently continues to live and work between France and Italy (Certaldo, in the province of Florence, a city of which he is also an honorary citizen), which he now considers as a second homeland.