An interview with the singer Emile Bernard
“Can it be true? Is it really Emile Bernard?” No, this is
Paolo Fornasari, a London-based musician. But his stage name is “Emile
Bernard” and he and the French painter could have been twins. Dominika
Makowski talked with Paolo about his music, his upcoming first show in
Bremen and - of course – the connection to his incredible look-alike
from the past.
You
look exactly like the young Emile Bernard in a portrait, which belongs
to the art collection of the Tate Gallery of Modern Art in London. Were
your look and your artist name inspired by this painting?
Emile
Bernard: First time I heard of Emile Bernard was in 2009 at The
National Gallery in London where the portrait you mention was displayed.
It was a complete coincidence or as I’d like to call it ‘fate’. I was
there talking to a friend when a gallery assistant at The National
Gallery approached me and told me: “You have to go to room 46, there’s
something you must see!” So, I did and there it was, Emile looking back
at me. It was such an intense moment, I still remember it. It was like
looking at myself in the mirror but in a distant time and life but still
somehow so close.
I knew nothing about him then apart from the
little description on the side of the Bernard-portrait that
Toulouse-Lautrec made for his friend.
Emile Bernard
unfortunately never made it to great fame, since he always stood in the
shadow of his friends such as Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin. Why do
you still decide to name yourself after “Emile Bernard”?
E.B.:
When I first encountered Emile I was going through a hard time, the
ending of my first meaningful relationship and the band I was in
dissolved to. I had started writing songs that later became part of my
solo repertoire but I didn’t want to use my own name; I needed a
‘persona’ or a ‘mask’ that could help me project all the emotions I was
hiding inside myself on to. I felt somehow in the shadow of bigger
events that were happening outside my life too. Emile looked like a more
confident self from an unknown past. It just felt right.
You are a musician based in London. What kind of music do you play?
E.B.:
Yes, I have been in London for the last decade. I definitely consider
it my home. I like to think of my music as ‘melancholic indie pop’ with a
touch of post rock in places. It’s definitely not the kind of music you
would like to dance to, it’s kind of introspective. I write on piano
and I like the romantic feel, the natural sound of instruments, It’s the
core of my songs. When I then take them to the recording studio I
though like to add more layers with electric ambient guitars and vintage
analog synths. Plus I do like epic big drums and long reverbs.
Lyrically my songs are about the inevitable heartbreaks and the struggle
of living in these fast modern times, where there seem to be little
time and space for human feelings and meaningful relationships. Go and
have a listen for yourself on Youtube or Soundcloud, I always feel the
music should speak for itself!
Is there a connection between Emile Bernard’s life?
E.B.:
Well, I don’t really know if I can say so. Obviously apart from looking
alike and both being/have been somehow underdogs working hard on their
craft and trying to reach a wide audience. Although something quite
spooky happened during my first visit to Paris, a city I love and I feel
deeply attracted to. While walking around the Île Saint-Louis I
randomly noticed an inscription on the wall. The inscription said that
it was where Emile lived during his Parisian years. (a) I still don’t
know what took me to walk right there but it felt like I knew it all
along before it happened. Call it ‘fate’ again.
The
exhibition in Bremen rediscovers the artist and assigns Bernard his
rightful place in the history of modern painting. What do you think
about the artist Emile Bernard and his personality?
E.B.:
Believe it or not I still don’t know enough about Emile’s life and work
as I probably should. I did a bit of research back in the day before
deciding to borrow his name but I didn’t want to obsess over it. In a
way I hoped that our paths would keep crossing in the most natural way, a
bit like what’s happening now with your retrospective on him and the
Kunsthalle Bremen getting in touch with me. I obviously loved the idea
of him being such a talented artist all around and being so important in
the life of other great artists like Gauguin and van Gogh, his travels
around Europe and the constant research of his style and narrative in
his art, his quest to express the most powerful and beautiful message
with simplicity.
Emile Bernard also wrote poems. Did you know something about his
lyrical work? Maybe the letters he wrote to his family between his
journeys through the Bretagne or the correspondence between van Gogh and
Bernard? Were they maybe a source of inspiration for your songs?
E.B.:
I knew of his poems but I haven’t read many of them, same for his
letters. It does feel like that now. But it is perhaps the right time
for doing so and maybe a song about him will be the inevitable
consequence and a good way for me to honor his life.
You plan
a visit to Bremen in the beginning of May to play a concert. Is it your
first time visiting Germany? Are you excited to come to Bremen and see
the Emile Bernard exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bremen?
E.B.:
I’m very excited about this! I’ve only been to Germany once when I was
ten, visiting Freiburg and the Black Forest. Plus I never played in
Germany before so I am looking forward to visit Bremen and play there.
As for the exhibition I am absolutely thrilled to have the perfect
chance to immerse into Emile’s work and learn so many new things about
his life and his work. I am much honored of being part of the events
around your exhibition. It is a little strange but it feels somehow
right. A lot of people still don’t know Emile Bernard at all and with my
music I do my little effort to take his name out there again.
Paolo Fornasari | 02.03.2015
SAVE THE DATE: Emile Bernard in Concert on Saturday 9 May 2015 in Bremen
Location: KITO Bremen, Alte Hafenstr. 30, 28757 Bremen
The concert starts at 8 p.m. (admission starts at 7 p.m.)
Tickets are available via Nordwest Ticket and TSC.
Interview with Emile Bernard at Funkhaus Europa (8.5.2015)
Emile Bernard on Soundcloud
Emile Bernard on YouTube
Annotations:
(a) Émile Bernard died in 1941 in his studio on the Île Saint-Louis.
Captions:
(1)
The singer Emile Bernard, Photo: Francesca Costa and Henri de
Toulouse-Lautrec, Emile Bernard, 1885, oil on canvas, 54 x 44,5 cm,
Tate, London, Legacy Arthur Jeffress 1961, © Tate, London 2014 | (2)
Emile Bernard live on stage at Monarch, Photo: Neil Anderson
(Wildblanket Photography) | (3) Emile Bernard in front of the
inscription on the wall at Île Saint-Louis, Photo: Susanna Villa