Bernard Dufour

The signature takes up a big corner of the painting, so it shouldn't be too hard to make out... but it is. For the image I've tried to darken the background to bring the writing to the fore. Looking at it again, it might not even be a Bernard!  

There's no date, but it feels quite 1960s/70s. It came in a horrible 1980s metal frame, with the label for a (now-defunct) local framers on the backboard so this could be a later addition. Or the artist might be have felt a little bit retro that day.

I don't know if the boat registration hints towards the painting's origin? I couldn't find any 'MA' on any British records.

Any help would be gratefully received.

Could Be French artist Bernard Defour , I will check further.

http://search.aol.com/aol/image?q=Bernard Dufour&v_t=client-browser10-auth

Small 'well I never' bit of information...

Bernard Dufour starred in the role of 'the artist's hand' in the extended close-ups of the main character painting in the film 'La Belle Noiseuse' (1991) - the rest of the character, when in repose, was played by Michel Piccoli of 'Belle de Jour' fame.

I saw it years ago and loved it.

a dealer here claimed that Dufour worked as an assistant for Buffet ( another Bernard) and actually painted a lot of his paintings

today I saw a pile of Dufour painted canvasses I would have sworn they were origionals but they had never been streched and were a bit small for the type of brushwork some sort of screenprited reproduction but very well done

I spent a while looking at mine, before I bought it, trying to see if it was a print or an original because the paint is very thinly worked.

It's only when I got it home and dismantled the (very yucky) frame that I knew for sure it wasn't a screenprint.

There's a bit of stylistic similarity between Dufour and Buffet, it has to be said.

one clue I had was the size these canvases were 50 X 40cm but the brush strokes were very thin I'm sure the original paintings were much bigger