Bernard Karfiol (1886-1952) Karfiol was the son of Hungarian immigrants and grew up in Brooklyn and Long Island . In Brooklyn he went to school. He began his artistic education at the age of 14 at the National Academy of Design in New York City . At the age of 15 he went to the Académie Julien in Paris where he became a student of Jean Paul Laurens . At the age of 17 Karfiol debuted with a portrait in the Salon of 1903, the Societé des arts francaises , also in Paris.
In 1905, Karfiol returned to New York, where he worked as a lecturer at his former academy in 1908-1913.
In 1917 he had already achieved a certain fame, but his artistic recognition was not achieved until 1923 with a large solo exhibition at the J. Brummer Gallery in New York. The exhibition focused on portraits and acts. In the following year Karfiol was able to repeat this success with another exhibition at Brummer. This time, the focus was on figures and landscapes.
In the same year the Anderson Galleries organized the Secession of the Independents in New York. Karfiol took part in a girl act and received unanimous applause from the critics.
In 1927, Karfiol took part in an art contest of the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh with two women's works, who were nevertheless praised by the jury.
In his last years, Karfiol hardly appeared publicly. In 1931 the painter Anne Carleton became a pupil for some time.
At the age of 66, Bernard Karfiol died in September 1952, in New York.
Besides his files, he also captivates through his landscapes. His most famous works are Fishing Village and Seated Nude , both exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art . All in all, his pictures are characterized by harmonious colors, simplicity and a certain delicacy.