Georges Bernède (French b.1926)
Born in Monségur in 1926 Georges Bernède started painting in 1945, under the guidance of Mildred Bendall (1891-1977). Initially Bernède followed Bendall's advice to use colour as building blocks for composition and expression. His first post-cubist canvases were exhibited at the yearly exhibitions of the Artistes Indepéndants de Bordeaux, the Group 'Sève' and the Group 'Le Regard' during the 1940s and 1950s. During 1968 -1984, Bernède progressed into colourful Abstraction. Since the mid-1980s his palette had become almost monochrome. His black and white canvasses lit up by spare dots or strokes of colour, are testimony to his desire to convey timeless space, much in the manner of the composer Gyorgi Ligeti (1923-2006). Bernède himself often compares the rhythm of his paintings to music, as he continues his search into abstract expression of the essence of life.
Bernède still lives and works in Monségur, France.
