Alain Bonnefoit 1937 | French

Painter, engraver and sculptor, Bonnefoit was born in Montmartre, Paris, in 1937. From 1953 he attended the École des Arts Appliqués, from 1956 the École des Beaux Arts in Paris and from 1959 also the École des Beaux Arts in Brussels Engraving and Sculpture Department. In 1961 he began a two year period in the studio of the sculptor Volti who would become his maestro in both art and life. In 1964 he arrived at the form of expression that later made him famous: the female nude. In 1965 he moved to Tuscany but kept on his studio in Paris. In 1973 he made his first trip to Japan, an experience that affected him deeply, where he discovered and studied the technique of sumi-e. He made repeated visits to the East for further in-depth study and is now a master of the technique.