RANCILLAC Bernard

Bernard Rancillac (1931-2021) is a French painter, sculptor and visual artist. In 1949, he trained at the workshop of Met de Penninghen where he intended to teach drawing. In 1953, he did his military service in Morocco. On site, a bookstore exhibited his first drawings. On his return to France in 1955, he opened his studio near Paris and worked as teacher at the same time. Between 1959 and 1962, he studied engraving at Stanley William Hayter's Atelier 17. After experimenting with abstraction, he introduced figuration and color into his works. Bernard Rancillac then joined the New Figuration movement. He received the first prize for painting at the Biennale de Paris in 1961. In 1966, he designed his only piece of design : the Elephant armchair. This piece is designed for a furniture exhibition at the Lacloche gallery in Paris. Produced in around sixty pieces, the armchair was edited again in limited editions by Michel Roudillon between 1982 and 1986. During the 1980’s, Bernard Rancillac also created theater sets. He found his inspiration in comics, magazines or in the actuality.