Artist in oil and mixed media, and businessman, born in Brussels, Belgium, his mother English, his father a wealthy Polish-Jewish bullion dealer who hit hard times, persuading Bernard to avoid poverty by cultivating an entrepreneurial spirit. Over the years, Stern turned a penny from such activities as painting buckles and brooches, decorating lampshades, portering in Covent Garden vegetable market, drawing for the Daily Herald while serving in the wartime ambulance service, as a property dealer and the manufacturer of Rotaflex lamps. He was involved in Concord Lighting International, which by the early 1960s operated in 50 countries, although Stern always insisted that “Painting is my profession, lighting is just my hobby.” Walls, especially those of New York, and the graffiti they bear, were Stern’s special subject.
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He studied at Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts there, 1935–7; at Antwerp Académie, 1937–9; moved to England in 1940 and for a short time in 1942 studied at St Martin’s School of Art. Took part in many mixed shows internationally, including France, Switzerland, Belgium and America. Solo shows included Archer Gallery, 1970; David Paul Gallery, Chichester, 1975; Tampa Bay Art Center, Florida, and Carlton Gallery, New York, both 1977; Camden Arts Centre, 1981; Galerie Isy Brachot, Paris, 1983; Chicago International Art Exhibition, 1986; a retrospective of works on paper at Galerie Michel Broomhead in Paris, and Leinster Fine Art, both 1987; Sid Deutsch Gallery, New York, and Fuji International Art, Tokyo, both 1989; and Century Gallery, 1993. Among collections holding Stern’s work is Ben Uri Art Society. Latterly lived in New York and Provence, France, dying in Marseilles. Stern’s autobiography Milles Années appeared in 1999.
Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)
