Bernard Lorjou (9 September 1908 – 26 January 1986) was a French painter of Expressionism and a founding member of the anti-abstract art Group "L'homme Témoin".
There, Lorjou lived through early years of hardship and often found himself sleeping in metros and the Gare d'Orsay[1] while working without pay as an errand boy for a printing house.
He eventually found a position as a designer at the silk house Ducharne where he met his future wife Yvonne Mottet, also an artist and painter.
Over the next 30 years, his designs not only adorned the bodies of many of the world's most prominent women but also provided him an income that allowed him to paint on a full-time basis.
[1] Lorjou’s body of work includes thousands of paintings, a collection wood engravings, ceramic and bronze sculptures, lithographs, illustrated books, socially oriented posters, stained glass windows, and murals.