Bernard Rancillac

Exhibition at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Dole and the Musée d'Art Moderne in Saint Etienne, March - December 2003

Bernard Rancillac (1931-2021) is regarded as the founder of Figuration Narrative in 1964, alongside Monory, Télémaque and Erró. His work draws on comic strip motifs and media iconography to paint a critical and parodic portrait of the contemporary world.

In the economic and political context of the 1960s, Figuration Narrative marked the revival of critical and committed figurative art. Art was political, a tool of communication rather than a project of contemplation, with legibility as its keyword. Consumption itself became the object of virulent criticism. From 1966 onwards, Rancillac used photographs and images as a starting point for his work. He transposed the reality of his daily life and current events through a tonic figuration, with bold colours and effective graphics.

This book, which is both an exhibition catalogue and a retrospective monograph on Bernard Rancillac, highlights the key series in which the artist's favourite themes are diffracted: comic strips, angry subjects, jazz, the conventions of painting, the media image, sport, human drama, women, etc.