Works, Writings, Interviews

by Jean Dubuffet, Valérie Da Costa

As an enemy of culture and of the art of museums, Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985) was also an anarchist, an atheist, anti-military and unpatriotic. He was an explosive force, a rebel who rejected labels and categories, resolute in his quest for freedom from all constraints, and not incidentally one of the most remarkable artists of the twentieth century. Over an extraordinarily productive career from 1942 to 1985, Dubuffet found himself drawn to the art of children and madmen, which he endowed with legitimacy and credibility as Art Brut. This in turn inclined him towards extreme forms and the expressive scrawls and scribbles of graffiti, and prompted him to begin experimenting with materials such as bitumen, sand and plant fibers, which made him one of the earliest and most prominent Matter artists. As a prolific writer, and sometimes a cruel polemicist, Dubuffet left a storehouse of written work that offers invaluable insight into his vision of art.

Genres: Art

160 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2007

Reviews

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love his work. Very childlike, unusual and inspiring. I was moved reading his life story. He didn't have an easy path and in fact, didn't have a career as an artist until he was 41. In the first essay, the write describes his father as "fiercely hostile towards art and the artistic milieu in the broadest sense of the term. Dubuffet had to obtain the information necessary for his education on his own..." When Dubuffet finally made the decision to devote his life to making art, he was in his forties. "I had given up any ambition of making a career as an artist...I had lost all interest in the art shown in galleries and museums, and I no longer aspired to fit into that world. I loved the paintings done by children, and my only desire was to do the same for my own pleasure." Later he writes, "True art is always found where we least expect it, where nobody is thinking about it or saying its name. Art hates to be recognized and greeted by name. It flees instantly." I have a quote from him and one of his paintings ("Element Historie")posted on my blog... here's the link: https://www.kimhermanson.com/2011/02/...