Tribute to Foremost Animalier,
Count Bernard de Claviere d’Hust
February 1 through March 25, 2017
“The world of animals is very essential to me. They create some kindness in our lives, and to paint them gets one
closer to a sweetness in life that is disappearing every day.
I wanted to paint animals, but had to find a technique….I went to an academy and fled, horrified.
-Count Bernard de Claviere d’Hust,”
Tribute to Foremost Animalier, Count Bernard de Claviere d’Hust will be at Dog & Horse
Fine Art February 1 through March 25, 2017. A genius and consummate artist, Bernard
accumulated distinguished clientele in 23 countries over the course of his career. Most well-known
for his equine paintings, his portfolio includes many important canine paintings as well, and wildlife
of all kinds. The quintessential description of his paintings came from the artist himself: “modern
from a classical perspective.”
The exhibition will include some of his last paintings, with the moon rising in his well-recognized
romantic 18th century style landscapes. A number of these works of art were in the artist’s private
collection, thus his favorite dogs. His French roots are evident in his porcelain-like painted surfaces and
graceful S-curves, which are often found in French masterpieces. His “pourquoi” attitude, as he
translates from the French, “who cares,” is often evident in his animals’ expressions.
Bernard’s paintings exemplify the creativity of art: to begin he relied on photography to paint a dog
or horse and then discarded documentation in order to instill the creative process. As a result, his
paintings ripple with an otherworldliness and stunning power.
We are glad that Bernard lives on in his paintings. He was such an essential artist, pure in all
respects. His life was one of an iconoclast: colorful, ruled by his fiery temperament, and luckily for
us, consumed by a passion for animals.
He was born in Lyon, France, in 1934. When he was 4 years old, his father, a fighter pilot, was
killed in a plane crash. After this tragedy, Bernard and his mother went to live with his widowed aunt and
first cousin, Yoyo, at his fraternal home, Chateau de Noailles. His family’s roots in the
region trace back to the 16th century. At the age of 9, Bernard completed his first painting, of
swans.
While married to his first wife, Yolande, he had a son and a daughter and worked in advertising,
banking and public relations. On his own he pursued his passion for art, studying not surprisingly,
Poussin, George Stubbs and Jean-Baptiste Oudry. When a beloved horse passed away, he knew he
had to find his own technique independent from the traditions taught at the Academy. He studied
painting with a respected artist from the Academy and with a restoration expert at Versailles. In
1969, at the age of 35, he painted his first equine commission of a champion Standardbred filly for
Count Pierre de Montesson, the President of the French Trotting Society. This was the beginning
of his artistic career. In 1975, Bernard had his first sold-out exhibition in London.
When he married his second wife, Anne-Marie, whom he knew in Paris, his life took flight, moving
back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean: Paris, France; Lexington, Ky.; New York City and Oyster
Bay; France, Belgium and Nashville. This was a colorful time in Bernard’s life. He had exhibitions
from New York City and Palm Beach to Deauville, France.
He completed numerous important commissions of racehorses Seattle Slew, John Henry, and
Spectacular Bid, to name a few. He was commissioned by the French ambassador in London to
paint Queen Elizabeth II’s favorite steed, Burmese, with her Corgi, Smokey, with Windsor Castle in
the background, as a state gift from France. This now hangs in Her Majesty’s private collection in
Buckingham Palace.
In Palm Beach in 1978, he met a former ambassador to Denmark, Guilford Dudley, who became a
lifelong friend. Dudley was from Nashville and shared Bernard’s passion for foxhunting. Bernard
was a great athlete, following the tradition of his grandfather, Count de Puysegur, whose hunt was
one of the most popular in France. His kinship with and knowledge of horses as well as anatomy are
evident in the intensity and spirit of his paintings.
In the late 1980s to the mid-1990s Bernard lived in New York City. It was during this period of his
life that a Wall Street Journal writer discovered his work at an exhibition in the city and called him
“one of the leading animaliers of the 20th century.”
In 1995, while living in Oyster Bay, Long Island, Bernard met his final wife, Barbara, a down-to earth
horsewoman, while both were riding. Barbara noticed Bernard, who was born to ride, because
he rode his horse differently than an American. It was Bernard’s aforementioned friendship with
Guilford Dudley that ultimately led Bernard and Barbara to move to Nashville. Bernard was to
spend the longest part of his life in America there. While there, in addition to painting for
collectors, he was commissioned by Judy Forbis, the president of the Egyptian Society for Arabian
Stallions, to paint Arabians for royalty in Qatar.
For his final years they relocated to Orlando, where Bernard passed away in September of 2016. He
leaves his admirers a great and enduring legacy, with his art and philosophy.
– “art is the shortest road between life and the inexpressible… a horse is mysterious…”
– “People’s pets are their own private garden.”
– Count Bernard de Claviere d’Hust
