Dorny was born in 1931 in Paris.
In 1948, he entered the atelier of the fauve artist, Friesz and from 1952 worked with the cubist, Lhote. It was in 1954 that he discovered printmaking with the legendary Johnny Friedlander.
Bertrand Dorny was to spend the next thirty-five years constantly developing and experimenting with his printmaking. He has not executed a print since 1990.
He has exhibited throughout Europe and America. He taught at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris from 1975 to 1979. He was a member of the Society of French engravers.
His work is in the following collections:
Musee d’art moderne, Paris
Chicago Art Institute, USA
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Yale University At Gallery, USA
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, USA
Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Paris
He was also the subject of a major retrospective in 2003 at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris and the Library, New York in 2006.