9.5in x 7.5in | 34.3cm x 24.1cm
Black Prismacolor wax pencil on bristol paper
Collection of the artist
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For the story behind the drawing, scroll down or click here
Awards
Grand Prix du Salon (Best of Show)
33e Salon National d’art de l’Automne, Centre Cuturel Albert Camus, Issoudun, France
Art Calendar Magazine Quarterly Juried Centerfold Competition
The Art Calendar Magazine
Finalist in the Portrait Category
The Artist’s Magazine 1995 Competition, top 200 out of more than 9,500 entries
Reproduced in Books
The Best of Color Pencil 3
Portrait Inspirations
Exploring Color Pencil
Magazines
The Art Calendar (Dec 99)
Behind the drawing
Photo © 1976 Ann James Massey
My first trip to Paris in 1976 was on a Maupintour tour of France as a traveling companion to Gray Nicholson, a first cousin of my grandmother, Imogen Leavell Moore. Our tour director, Henri, was the most amazing and intelligent man I had ever met and I kept in touch with him, on and off, over the years.
After he mentioned offhandedly that he had been in a motorcycle accident and had suffered a broken collarbone and half a dozen broken ribs, I bought him a stuffed bear. I bound up the chest, bandaged one paw, put the paw in a sling, and sent him this “get well” bear. When I moved to Paris, this dear man still had my bear by his bed, explaining simply “only you would do that.” A year after my arrival, I purchased a tiny bear, representing me, as a companion to his bear.
My most cherished friend and mentor was my “better half” and my muse. Our counterpart bears are in my painting, La Maison de Poupées on the top shelf, next to the white bears.
You can also see Henri as the model for my painter in The Connoisseur and with our cockatiel, Beau Beau, in The Blessing of the Animals. Other stories and references to Henri and lives together in the website are Manna From Above in Paris and Versailles, Between the Pyramids, The Marionette Shop, The Making of the Blessing of the Animals, among various photos and snippets scattered throughout.
Though he only wore glasses for reading, I chose to portray him this way as they: emphasize his immeasurable eyes even more, represent his incredible knowledge,
and add to the technical side of the drawing. He is also wearing a windbreaker which shows despite his erudition, he is just as likely to be travelling thousands of kilometers just to see for himself a statue, a painting, a lost place that few know about, but have been a fascination to him since that first literary encounter.
It’s impossible for anyone to capture his essence. However, I have also attempted to show his personality in the simplest way: with him about to speak…and oh…what he had to say.
Rest in Peace my beloved. Henri Pierre Marie Joseph Bérenger, July 2, 1928 – June 25, 2025
