The Invention of the Modern Mega-artist

Bernard Buffet

Told for the first time, the extraordinary story of Bernard Buffet the most famous artist in the world you have never heard of.

[a] thoroughly researched account of a life tinged with sadness, spent mostly in the studio, compulsively painting

Foulkes is really good at, the thing with which this book is happily stuffed, is snappy storytelling…[The] years of excess provide the book with its most entertaining stretches.

Whatever your opinion of the work of the prolific French expressionist Bernard Buffet, it’s not hard to be seduced by the premise of Nick Foulkes’ new biography, Bernard Buffet: The Invention of the Modern Mega-Artist.

Foulkes has drowned himself in the subject and done some impressive research… He always has interesting things to say…bold and stylish.

A timely reappraisal of Buffet’s work and a haunting account of a glittering career that ended in tragedy

Foulkes recounts, with skill and a sense of fun… especially good at  evoking Fifties and Sixties French culture, with all the cigarette  smoke, beautiful people and Paris-Match style is deserves

A fascinating portrait of French cultural life in the second half of the 20th century, and of the contemporary art market, told with aplomb by Foulkes.

[Nicholas Foulkes] has a sure eye and ear for the nuances of hierarchy in both Euro-trash’s sumps and the art world. His book is diligently researched, elegantly written and well-paced. He does period colour and local colour with discretion and seldom dramatizes incidents

Art lovers will enjoy this book, so too will those keen to gain access to a long-lost world of creative glamour

[a] lively biography… the book will surely go some way to reinvigorating an interest in the artist and his better work

Foulkes deserves much credit for trawling through so much French archive material and for allowing himself to become so obsessed with his subject that he could extract riveting detail and exclusive interviews… art lovers will enjoy this book, so too will those keen to gain access to a long- lost world of creative glamour

A compelling and detailed study of a controversial painter.

Foulkes uses his unique  perspective to introduce Buffet, a former darling of the rich and  famous, to today’s public.

Nicholas Foulkes is the author of over 20 books. His most recent include, Bernard Buffet: The Invention of the Modern Mega-artist and Patek Phillipe: The Authorized Biography. His books have been published by Little, Brown, Weidenfeld &amp; Nicolson, Flammarion, Assouline, Random House and Thomas Dunne Books in the USA. 
 
He contributes to a wide range of newspapers and magazines around the world. For over 20 years he has written the Bolivar cigar column for Country Life. He is a contributing editor to the FT's How To Spend It magazine, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair; and luxury editor of British GQ. He launched and continues to edit Vanity Fair's twice yearly watch magazine On Time. In 2007 he was named Havana Man of the Year by the Cuban government, having been nominated for this award on four previous occasions. He is a graduate of Hertford College, Oxford and lives in London with his wife and two sons.

It is said that asphyxiation brings on a state of hallucinatory intoxication...in which case the 71 year old artist who lay in his sprawling Provencal villa died happy. In the early afternoon of Monday 4 October 1999, wracked with Parkinson's, and unable to paint because of a fall in which he had broken his wrist, Bernard Buffet calmly placed a plastic bag over his head, taped it tight around his neck and patiently waited the few minutes it took for death to arrive. 
 
 Bernard Buffet:The Invention of the Modern Mega-artist tells the remarkable story of a French figurative painter who tasted unprecedented critical and commercial success at an age when his contemporaries were still at art school. Then, with almost equal suddenness the fruits of fame turned sour and he found himself an outcast. Scarred with the contagion of immense commercial success no leper was more untouchable. He was the first artist of the television age and the jet age and his role in creating the idea of a post-war France is not to be underestimated. As the first of the so-called Fabulous Five (Francoise Sagan, Roger Vadim, Brigitte Bardot and Yves Saint Laurent) he was a leader of the cultural revolution that seemed to forge a new France from the shattered remains of a discredited and demoralized country. 
 
 Rich in incident Buffet’s remarkable story of bisexual love affairs, betrayal, vendettas lasting half a century, shattered reputations, alcoholism, and drug abuse, is played out against the backdrop of the beau monde of the 1950s and 1960s in locations as diverse as St Tropez, Japan, Paris, Dallas, St Petersburg and New York, before coming to its miserable conclusion alone in his studio.

Patek Philippe

The definitive history of the world-renowned watchmakers, Patek Philippe.

Undoubtedly the publishing event of the (watch) year

Nicholas Foulkes is the author of around 20 books. His most recent include, 'Bals: Legendary Costume Balls of the Twentieth Century' and 'Swans, Legends of the Jet Society'. His books have been published by Little, Brown &amp; Company, Weidenfield and Nicolson, Assouline, Random House and Thomas Dunne Books in the USA. 
 
He contributes to a wide range of newspapers and magazines around the world. He is a columnist for Country Life; a contributing editor to The FT's How To Spend It Magazine, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair; and luxury editor of British GQ. He launched and continues to edit Vanity Fair's twice yearly watch magazine On Time. He launched and continues to edit Vanity Fair on Art. He is co-founder and editor-in-chief of Finch's Quarterly Review. In 2007 he was named Havana Man of the Year by the Cuban government, having been nominated for this award on four previous occasions. In 2009 he was appointed to the board of the Norman Mailer Centre. He is a graduate of Hertford College Oxford and lives in London with his wife and two sons.

The definitive history of the world-renowned watchmakers, Patek Philippe. 
 
Founded in Geneva in 1839, and to this day a family-owned company, Patek Philippe makes what are widely regarded as the world’s finest mechanical watches. Among them, the most valuable watch ever made: the famous 1933 pocket watch known as the “Graves” supercomplication, which sold at auction in 2014 for US$23,934,00. A cult among collectors, Patek Philippe and its timepieces have been treasured by kings and princes, rock stars, and sportsmen. Notable customers of the storied Swiss watchmaker include Queen Victoria, and her great-great-granddaughter HM Queen Elizabeth II. 
 
Drawing exclusively on interviews with the company’s owners and with staff and watchmakers past and present, as well as on hitherto unseen documents from the company’s archives, Patek Philippe: The Authorized Biography, celebrates the history of a unique company. Nicholas Foulkes traces the Patek Philippe history from founder Antoine Norbert de Patek’s early life in Poland as a young cavalry officer fighting in a doomed uprising. He recounts Patek’s exile, his life in Geneva, his meeting with gifted watchmaker Jean Adrien Philippe, and the 1932 purchase of the company by the Stern family who, over four generations, have turned it into the legend that it is today. 
 
“I am very pleased to see the history of my family’s company come to life in this excellent volume. This is the first time that the Patek Philippe archive has been accessed and brought to life in a factual and definitive work. Nicholas Foulkes has perfectly recreated the atmosphere and details of our 175-year journey.” - Philippe Stern, Honorary President of Patek Philippe

Marbella Club

The extraordinary story of one of the most famous and exclusive hotels in the world.

Since its establishment more than half a century ago by Prince Alfonso von Hohenlohe, Hotel Marbella Club has accumulated a wealth of history, full of extraordinary and unforgettable moments. The beach resort in Spain has been a meeting place for the international jet-set: aristocrats, stars of the entertainment world, business leaders and famous figures from all over the world. 
 
 In 1947, Prince Alfonso von Hohenlohe’s family acquired Finca Santa Margarita, an old farm situated on 18 hectares along the coast of Marbella. Soon after, in the spring of 1954, thanks to the effort and determination of the young Prince, the Marbella Club beach resort first opened its doors. There were ten rooms in one wing, eight in the other, another room in the tower with a suite next to it, and a sitting room, dining room and bar located in the main part of the old converted farmhouse. 
 
Fifty years later, and with an impressive history behind it, the Marbella Club Hotel has created an exciting biography detailing the extraordinary story of “this small paradise on earth”.

Nicholas Foulkes

I would recommend it for every cigar-smoker’s stocking this Christmas

a fantastically sumptuous journey through the history, craft and enjoyment of cigars

A beautifully illustrated and packaged study of the cigar - its history, its production and its joys - from world-renowned expert Nicholas Foulkes and written in conjunction with Davidoff, the world's leading cigar importer. A fascinating gift for anyone wanting to be educated and entertained... 
 
'I would recommend it for every cigar-smoker's stocking this Christmas' -- The Field 
'Entertained, informed and kept me interested throughout' -- ***** Reader review 
'Amazingly entertaining' -- ***** Reader review 
'Encyclopaedic, scholarly, elegant, fun' -- ***** Reader review 
'A superb book' -- ***** Reader review 
 
****************************************************************************************** 
"The most futile and disastrous day seems well spent when it is reviewed through the blue, fragrant smoke of a Cigar." Evelyn Waugh 
 
 Exploring not just the extraordinary story of tobacco and cigars but also a history that has been instrumental in the foundations of societies and cultures, Cigars will take you on an astonishing journey through landscapes, scents and an incredible roll call of the great, the good and the not-so good. The cigar has provided solace and a chance for worldly contemplation to generations of thinkers, businessmen, writers, entrepreneurs and connoisseurs. 
 
 In this elegiac offering to the pinnacles of hand-rolled tobacco, world-renowned expert Nicholas Foulkes guides you through the myths, legends, nuances and delicious realities of the smoke-savouring universe, serving as an introduction for the novice and a reference for the connoisseur. 
A stunning, fully-illustrated gift package, perfect for anyone wishing to be educated and entertained... 
 
 "A cigar ought not to be smoked solely with the mouth, but with the hand, the eyes, and with the spirit." Zino Davidoff

Nicholas Foulkes

Praise for Cigars: A Guide

I would recommend it for every cigar-smoker’s stocking this Christmas

Books by Nicholas Foulkes

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter