{"id":1053,"date":"2025-02-27T09:43:33","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T08:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/?page_id=1053"},"modified":"2025-02-27T16:30:39","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T15:30:39","slug":"portraits-imaginaires-par-valerio-deho","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/en\/portraits-imaginaires-par-valerio-deho\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00ab Portraits imaginaires \u00bb \n<\/br>Text written by Valerio Deh\u00f2"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

\u00ab Portraits imaginaires \u00bb
\nText written by Valerio Deh\u00f2<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Henri Beaufour\u2019s artistic work has focused primarily on the study of the human face\u2014of the portrait\u2014in the classical sense of the expression of individuality, characteristics, and the differences between individuals. For this French artist, though, it is not merely a matter of focusing on descriptions of realistic persons; instead, he works on creating something situated halfway between imagination and effective reality. In his capacity as a sculptor, painter, or engraver, Beaufour never adheres entirely to reality; rather, he creates intuitively in the moment and, above all, according to his profound erudition in the humanities and literature. While his work can be defined as a \u2018journey to the end of matter\u2019, it is also true that his explorations of human psychology often reveal literary resonances, in which the characters belong to a story suspended between the truth of reason and the immensity of fantasy.<\/p>

Henri Beaufour\u2019s output is original, certainly\u2014timeless, almost, and far removed from fads and nostalgia: a body of work of great depth, but one that is also often imbued with irony. Physical deformities may call to mind the sculptures of 18th-century German-Austrian artist Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, but equally, they combine dramatic and expressive intensity with an occasional vein of sarcasm. Even though his works feature classic animals of sculpture, such as dogs, horses, or more unusual animals such as pigs, the subject of Beaufour\u2019s art has almost always been the representation of men or women.<\/p>

His \u2018Imaginary Portraits\u2019 possess the analytical force of a \u2018Human Comedy\u2019 and the irony and magic of Marcel Schwob\u2019s \u2018Imaginary Lives\u2019, such that, if we were to gather all his portraits together, we would probably end up with quite an extraordinary novel. But art lives through episodes, and so, in the artistry of Beaufour\u2019s poetics, all his chance encounters and his personal or literary memoirs become a unique portrait gallery, in which everything is an integral part of the artist\u2019s world and vision. His sources of inspiration are manifold: In his \u2018story\u2019, quarry workers, male or female, live side by side with creatures born of mythology, like centaurs, or of literature, like Sancho Panza.<\/p>

Henri Beaufour\u2019s technique lends the material a dramatic quality, disturbing the forms in a relentless metamorphosis. In an attempt to give meaning not just to the creative energy poured into the representation, but also to the continuous movement of lines and colours, his work could be defined as \u2018baroque expressionism\u2019. His productions appear to be suspended in a state of continuous transmutation: In certain paintings, we sense a form in uninterrupted tension, but one that seems capable of changing at any moment; there is an inner motion that strikes the observer standing before the work. The forms seem to be in temporary stasis; even the hard marble seems to have been passed over by an impetuous hand in search of a boundary between the formal and the informal. Nevertheless, Beaufour remains a figurative artist who has devoted his attention to the human figure: to the faces of characters from myth and literature who rub shoulders with him in his everyday encounters. He is an extraordinary observer of reality, but he contemplates it with the spirituality of a quest that is both absolute and personal. Picasso, too, produced a memorable set of \u2018Imaginary Portraits\u2019 in Mougins in 1969, in which, with his own distinctive style, he brought together various elements from his artistic output\u2014from Mediterranean myths to the ironies of real people he had met.\n\nThe Venice exhibition features works from the 1990s to the present day, with marble and bronze sculptures, drawings, and acrylics tracing a personal path of research that ranks among the most original in contemporary art. On the ground floor of the Palazzo Pisani Santa Marina, some large-scale sculptures will point the way, while a series of murals will offer up a panorama of the complexity of Henri Beaufour\u2019s productions; some forty works in all, to introduce to the general public the magnitude of the artist\u2019s work and the experiments he has conducted across all the languages of art to define his own vision of the world.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00ab Portraits imaginaires \u00bb par Valerio Deh\u00f2 Le travail artistique d’Henri Beaufour s’est surtout concentr\u00e9 sur l’\u00e9tude du visage humain, du portrait, dans le sens classique de l\u2019expression des individualit\u00e9s, des caract\u00e9ristiques et des diff\u00e9rences entre les individus. Cependant, dans le cas de l’artiste fran\u00e7ais, il ne s’agit pas de se concentrer sur la description […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"folder":[],"class_list":["post-1053","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u00ab Portraits imaginaires \u00bb par Valerio Deh\u00f2 - Henri Beaufour<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/en\/portraits-imaginaires-par-valerio-deho\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u00ab Portraits imaginaires \u00bb par Valerio Deh\u00f2 - Henri Beaufour\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00ab Portraits imaginaires \u00bb par Valerio Deh\u00f2 Le travail artistique d’Henri Beaufour s’est surtout concentr\u00e9 sur l’\u00e9tude du visage humain, du portrait, dans le sens classique de l\u2019expression des individualit\u00e9s, des caract\u00e9ristiques et des diff\u00e9rences entre les individus. Cependant, dans le cas de l’artiste fran\u00e7ais, il ne s’agit pas de se concentrer sur la description […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/en\/portraits-imaginaires-par-valerio-deho\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Henri Beaufour\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-27T15:30:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/henri-beaufour.com\\\/portraits-imaginaires-par-valerio-deho\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/henri-beaufour.com\\\/portraits-imaginaires-par-valerio-deho\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u00ab Portraits imaginaires \u00bb par Valerio Deh\u00f2 - Henri Beaufour\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/henri-beaufour.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-27T08:43:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-27T15:30:39+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/henri-beaufour.com\\\/portraits-imaginaires-par-valerio-deho\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/henri-beaufour.com\\\/portraits-imaginaires-par-valerio-deho\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/henri-beaufour.com\\\/portraits-imaginaires-par-valerio-deho\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Accueil\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/henri-beaufour.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u00ab Portraits imaginaires \u00bb par Valerio Deh\u00f2\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/henri-beaufour.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/henri-beaufour.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Henri Beaufour\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/henri-beaufour.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u00ab Portraits imaginaires \u00bb par Valerio Deh\u00f2 - Henri Beaufour","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/en\/portraits-imaginaires-par-valerio-deho\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u00ab Portraits imaginaires \u00bb par Valerio Deh\u00f2 - Henri Beaufour","og_description":"\u00ab Portraits imaginaires \u00bb par Valerio Deh\u00f2 Le travail artistique d’Henri Beaufour s’est surtout concentr\u00e9 sur l’\u00e9tude du visage humain, du portrait, dans le sens classique de l\u2019expression des individualit\u00e9s, des caract\u00e9ristiques et des diff\u00e9rences entre les individus. Cependant, dans le cas de l’artiste fran\u00e7ais, il ne s’agit pas de se concentrer sur la description […]","og_url":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/en\/portraits-imaginaires-par-valerio-deho\/","og_site_name":"Henri Beaufour","article_modified_time":"2025-02-27T15:30:39+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/portraits-imaginaires-par-valerio-deho\/","url":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/portraits-imaginaires-par-valerio-deho\/","name":"\u00ab Portraits imaginaires \u00bb par Valerio Deh\u00f2 - Henri Beaufour","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-02-27T08:43:33+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-27T15:30:39+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/portraits-imaginaires-par-valerio-deho\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/portraits-imaginaires-par-valerio-deho\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/portraits-imaginaires-par-valerio-deho\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Accueil","item":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u00ab Portraits imaginaires \u00bb par Valerio Deh\u00f2"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/","name":"Henri Beaufour","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1053"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1143,"href":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1053\/revisions\/1143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henri-beaufour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=1053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}