Les Bretonneries - Émile Bernard

A striking 1889 zincograph by Émile Bernard, featuring the simplified, bold forms and graphic contours characteristic of the Cloisonnist movement.

Les Bretonneries is a significant zincograph produced by Émile Bernard in 1889. This work captures the artist's engagement with the rural life of Brittany, a region that drew many avant-garde painters during the late nineteenth century. Bernard, a contemporary and associate of Paul Gauguin, was instrumental in developing the style known as Cloisonnism. This approach relies on bold, flat areas of colour separated by dark, heavy contours, a technique inspired by stained glass and Japanese woodblock prints. The composition is divided into two distinct panels. The left side features figures in traditional Breton attire, their forms simplified into rhythmic, dark shapes that merge with the surrounding foliage. The right panel depicts a coastal scene, where a figure sits near a boat, looking out across the water toward a distant shoreline. The stark contrast between the deep blacks and the pale paper creates a graphic quality that prioritises decorative pattern over traditional modelling or perspective. Bernard's work from this period reflects a move away from the optical observations of Impressionism toward a more synthetic, symbolic mode of representation. By reducing the visual information to essential lines and masses, he creates a sense of stillness and archaic character. The inclusion of the title and the artist's signature within the composition itself suggests its function as a cover or frontispiece for a series of prints. This piece offers a clear view into the experimental printmaking practices of the Pont-Aven School, where artists sought to express the spirit of the Breton people through simplified, expressive forms. The print remains a compelling example of the graphic innovation that defined the transition into modernism at the close of the century.