Christian Bonnefoi

Christian Bonnefoi (born 1948 in Salindres, France) is an artist and historian, who lives and works in Gy-les-Nonains and Paris, France.

Early life and career

Bonnefoi was born in in Salindres, France, in 1948. He received a degree in Social Sciences from École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris. Following his degree, Bonnefoi continued his studies in earning a PhD in Art History at the University of Paris-Sorbonne.

He began his career by studying under art historians and philosophers Hubert Damisch and Jean Louis Schefer. During his studies, he worked closely with Yve-Alain Bois and Jean Clay for the architecture journal Macula. He focused his studies on architecture until 1970, when he came across Nu de Dos, Henri Matisse’s relief sculpture of a woman, at the Grand Palais in 1970, prompting him to begin his ventures into painting.

In the mid 1970s, Bonnefoi published a series of essays on modern artists, including Josef Albers, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, Marin Barré, Robert Ryman, Robert Mallet-Stevens and Louis Kahn. During this period, Bonnefoi had his first exhibition in Paris, at the Galerie Jean Chauvelin, in 1974 and his first solo exhibition in 1977 at the Hiperion Piltzer Gallery in Paris. In 1977, Bonnefoi was invited to show in the 10th Biennale de Paris. In 1980, he had his first show outside of Europe at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in New York. Bonnefoi held his first retrospective in 2008 at the Centre-Georges Pompidou in Paris, and was followed by a second retrospective at the Ginza Maison Hermes in Tokyo, Japan, in 2014. Bonnefoi has shown his work internationally, predominately in France, Denmark, Australia, Belgium, England and Switzerland.

Bonnefoi is an active art historian and critic who has lectured at the Tate Modern in London and the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. He continues to publish various monographs and essays, studying art from its conception to its theory.

Selected exhibitions

Writing

Public collections