Raymond Bertrand (born In 1945) - and Les Âmes sœurs

Raymond Bertrand (born 1945)
Sauvage and Les Âmes sœurs
Two Dated And Signed Drawings Sauvage

Ink on paper, 19.5 x 14 cm

Signed

Provenance:
Private collection

Raymond Bertrand, a contemporary French artist born in 1945, has developed over several decades a unique body of work imbued with mystery, eroticism, and dreamlike imagery. Trained in the tradition of academic drawing, he subverts this technical rigor to serve a personal universe where the human body becomes both the central subject and a vehicle for inner symbolism. His work, often rendered in ink, combines precise draftsmanship with formal freedom, allowing the imagination to flourish.

In Les Âmes sœurs (Soulmates), two female figures merge into a single entity, their bodies gracefully overlapping in an ambiguous, almost choreographed pose. The piece evokes themes of duality and psychic twinship, creating a tension between sensuality and strangeness. Anatomical realism blends with a near-surrealist composition, showcasing Bertrand’s refined handling of both the body and emotion.

Sauvage, on the other hand, conveys a completely different energy. Here, a young woman—half-human, half-vegetal—emerges from a burst of splattered ink. The treatment of the hair, rendered in expressive sprays and organic textures, emphasizes the fusion of the figure with nature, as if the being is dissolving into a fertile chaos. The intense gaze that pierces through the dark swirls lends the composition a mystical and emotional charge.

These two complementary works illustrate a recurring duality in Bertrand’s art: between academic mastery and dreamlike abandon, between realistic figuration and poetic abstraction. In a language reminiscent of Bellmer or Fuchs, yet unmistakably his own, Raymond Bertrand offers a vision of femininity that is both captivating, unsettling, and profoundly human.