Bernard
DAMIANO
1926-2000
Profile & Bio
"Loving painting to the point of madness, sometimes hating it to the point of vomiting" ~Bernard Damiano Bernard Damiano was a painter renowned for his exceptional skills and unique artistic style. He was born on the 10th of January 1926 in Saretto di Monterosso Grana, in the Piedmont region of Italy. In 1940, he became an apprentice carver in the workshop of the Revello brothers in Cuneo. In the evenings, he studied assiduously and approached drawing and wood carving with equal seriousness. Fascinated by artists such as Goya, Van Gogh and Soutine, he frequented the artistic environs of Cuneo and studied under the well-known painter Giulio Boetto (1894 – 1967). He also attended the Accademia Albertina in Turin. In 1948, he found employment as a stone and marble sculptor in Tenda in the Roya Valley. There, he met his wife Aziza (Giselle) Tordjnam and they moved to Nice, where he lived and worked until he died in 2000. Damiano was modest, discreet and very human. Refusing to belong to any artistic movement, he remained faithful to his own timeless expression His work is powerful, moving and tormented; his canvases poignant, sensual, intense and carnal. One of the defining aspects of his art was his ability to capture the essence of the human spirit. He employed a wide range of colours and his vibrant, thick brushstrokes would bring his subjects to life. Whether it was a portrait, landscape, or still life, his paintings exude a sense of life and vitality. "Damiano’s paintings are a cry. (…) His work is a revolt. It is a world of flesh and bones. His characters are hallucinatory, but profoundly human; they are our daily lives. Damiano kneads paint, extracting from its ore a treasure trove of tenderness and humanity. His painting is molten lava, an overflow of colour, shadow and light” ~Frédéric Altmann "Bernard Damiano’s work is and always will be imbued with great human heartbreak. The dramatic expressionism that emanates from it is rooted in the torment of a constant passion, the passion to paint unfailingly." ~André Verdet
Exhibitions /
Public Collections /
2017 Exposition Union de producteurs de Saint-Emilion, France 2015 « Bernard Damiano, Pathos» Merano, Italy 2014-2015 Le grand atelier, hommage à Matisse , Forum Jorge François, Nice, France 2014 Art Gallery Maurice Vrolijk, Dordrecht, Netherlands Prestige et contemporain Galerie Cortade-Art, Toulouse, France 2013-2014 Provence, terre de rencontres entre artistes et écrivains, Musée Regards de Provence, Marseille, France 2013 Alpi dell'arte: Tino Aime, Bernard Damiano, Roberto Lucchinetti, Dorino Ouvrier, Giovanni Thoux, Willy Messner, Museo de Coni, Italy 2012-2013 La collection Miche Berra, une histoire de l'art et de la vie, Fondation Filatoio, Caraglio, Italy 2012 Compagnia del Disegno, Milan, Italy La nature morte, art singulier, Espace culturel André-Malraux, Château des Baumettes, Villeneuve-Loubet, France 2011 L'art contemporain et la Côte d'Azur, par-delà les frontières du regard, un territoire pour l'expérimentation 1951-2011 Centre national d'art contemporain, Carros, France 2008 Galerie Mourlot Jeu de Paume, Marseille, France 2004 Maison des Artistes, Hauts de Cagnes, France - With Franta, Claude Morini, Émile Crociani, Michel Joyard, Frédéric Altmann 2003-2004 Museo du Palazzo Borea dell'Olmo, San Remo, Italy 2000 Original Gallery, Nice, France 1999 Bernard Damiano, l'homme et l'œuvre, Centre culturel Bertello, Borgo San Dalmazzo, Italy Palazzo della Provincia, Coni, Italy 1998 Musée d'Art Moderne, Nice, France La lumière bleue, Galerie Art 7, Nice, France 1997 Limone, Piemonte, Italy 1996 Exhibited with Matisse & Bonnard at the retrospective exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Biennale de la Jeune Peinture Méditerranéenne, Galerie municipale des Ponchettes, Nice, France Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain, Marseille, France Espace Chubac, Tourrette-Levens, France Galerie Pascal Odille, Paris, France Musée Municipal, Saint-Paul-De-Vence, France 1995 Bernard Damiano, Centro d’Arte Contemporanea di Umbertide, Milan, Italy Metro Galerie, Antibes, France Mol Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands 1994 Studio D’Arte Beniamino, San Remo, Italy Galerie Loft, Nice, France 1993 Bernard Damiano, de Comboscuro à Paris », Palazzo della Provincia, Coni, Italy Salle des Dominicains, Saint-Émilion, France 1992 Galerie Depypere, Kuurne, Belgium Galleria Michelangelo, Bergamo, Italy 1991 Studio d’Arte Beniamino, San Remo, Italy Galleria d’Arte, Pinerolo, Italy 1990 Galerie Expression, Saint-Tropez, France 1989 Galerie Expression, Paris, France Galerie Expression, Saint-Tropez, France Galleria Beniamino, Italy Foire d’Art de Toulouse, France Sigma Arte, Milan, Italy 1987 Galerie Bourdin, Paris, France 1986 Bernard Damiano, œuvres 1983-1985 Compagnia del Disegno, Milan, Italy 1984 Centro Culturale Braidense, Milan, Italy 1976 Galerie 5, Lausanne, Switzerland Galleria Apogeo, Napoli, Italy Galleria Schettini 2, Milano, Italy 1975 Galleria Rotta, Genoa, Italy 1974 Studio d’Arte Beniamino, San Remo, Italy – Presentazione del’Vitello d’Oro Galerie Albett White, Toronto, Canada Museum of Stockholm, Sweden Zurich, Switzerland 1973 Galerie N5, Paris, France Galerie Albert White, Toronto, Canada 1970 Palais de la Méditerranée, Nice, France Biennale de Menton, France 1969 Galleria Beniamino, San Remo, Italy 1968 National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden Salon d’Automne, Paris, France Galerie Outre-Monde, Paris, France Albert White Gallery, Toronto, Canada 1966 Galerie Bernheim Jeune, Paris, France Biennale de Menton, France Palais de la Méditerranée, Nice, France 1965 Galerie la Plaza, Nice, France Cultural Centre, Moscow, Russia 1965-1963 Cinquante Peintres avec Picasso, Vallauris, France 1964 Galerie Sicile de Tersach, Cannes, France Biennale de Menton, France Palais de la Méditerranée, Nice, France 1963 Kulturhaus, Berlin, Germany Biennale de Paris, France Biennale de la Jeune Peinture Méditerranéenne, France – Prix Dorothy Gould 1962 Galerie Art et Valeurs, Juan-Les-Pins, France Salon d’Automne, Paris, France Palais de la Méditerranée, Nice, France 1961 Monte-Carlo, Monaco – Prix Bosio 1960 Salon d’Automne, Paris, France Galerie de la Vieille Escope, Saint Paul de Vence, France Salon d’Automne, Paris, France Biennale Internationale de Menton, France Palais de la Méditerranée, Nice, France Cultural Centre, Moscow, Russia 1959 Galerie Longchamp Nice, France 1958 Galerie Longchamp Nice, Palais de la Méditerranée, France PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Centre international d'art contemporain, château de Carros, France – Portrait of the painter André Verdetdonated by André Verdet Musée de Coni, Italy Museo etnografico Coumboscuro della civiltà provenzale alpina, Monterosso Grana, Italy Giovanni Testori, Milan, Italy Miche Berra, Coni, Italy - Today this collection is kept at the Palais Sarriod de la Tour, Costigliole Saluzzo, Italy Nivèse et Frédéric Altmann, Nice, France Sancto-Lucio de Coumboscuro church, Monterosso Grana, Italy - Chemin de croix (14 paintings) et Le Christ saignant (wooden sculpture). Place de la Cathédrale, Chartres, France - Statue of the bishop Saint Fulbert, bronze, 1997
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