Once, during a difficult time in my life, when friends have disappeared (as far as the true ones were there) and simple knowledge was gone, during a pause between two meetings of a international jury in Sofia, François Baron-Renouard accosted me, at a moment I was alone, and opened his note book where one could read: «How your friends can help you ?». I didn’t remember what I could have answered him, but that was enough for me.
In fact, previously, the great French artist had lent a helping hand to Bulgarian art. And if we had to talk about Bulgarian presence in France, about outstanding exhibitions at the «Salon d’Automne», if we had to talk about cultural co-operation, we would have to quote incontestably and above all, the name and the work of BaronRenouard, by the time when political and artistic prejudice accumulated for years have to be overcome. The strongest thing was that this exceptional painter, living in the world of his non-figurative painting, had seen through the feature of the well-defined Bulgarian art, plastic and spiritual values thanks to which we could compete with the european tradition.
Baron-Renouard was and remains for us a discovery as much as artistic as human, showing he lives his life by glorifying the spiritual fertility and fullness.
Svetlin ROUSSEV
Former President of the Union of Bulgarian artists-painters
extract