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Jean Dubuffet

French artist (1901-1985) · France · Artists · Died at 83

Jean Dubuffet is read about 306 times a day, in 66 languages.

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He collected the art of asylum inmates and self-taught obsessives, then made his own work look like theirs - on purpose. Dubuffet built a career convincing the art world that untrained vision mattered more than technique.

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A life in dates

1985Died12 May 19851963“This character of depersonalization is certainly a constant of all my personages..”In their words29 June 1963Quote in a letter to Max Loreau, 29 June, 1963, reprinted in Prospectus II, Jean Dubuffet; Gallimard, Paris, 1967, pp. 374-375

1962“In all my works.. .. I have always had recourse to one never-varying method.”In their wordsQuote of Dubuffet, in Peter Selz and Jean Dubuffet: The work of Jean Dubuffet, The Museum of Modern art, New York, 1962

1947“Every piece of information about these statues is totally useless.. .What . import is it to us if their author was a bureaucrat or a cowherd, an old man or a young person?”In their wordsQuote in Dubuffet's 1947 Entry on an anonymous sculptor, associated with the Swiss collector O.J. Müller; from: Jean Dubuffet, Les Barbus

1946“The eye perceives what is hard and what is soft, what is porous and what is impervious, what is warm to the touch and what is cold.”In their wordsQuote of Jean Dubuffet, from 'L'auteur répond à quelques objections', (1946); as cited in Prospectus aux amateurs de tout genre, Jean

1940“People Are Much More Beautiful Than They Think: Long Live Their True Face.”In their words1940's

“[Dubuffet marvels at the desert as a chaotic palimpsest, filled with marks and signs] ..like an immense notebook of disorganization, a notebook of improvisation..”In their wordsQuote of Dubuffet, in a letter to Jacques Berne mailed from Algeria, late 1940's; (Lettres à J.B., p. 35.); as cited in 'Dubuffet,

1901Born31 July 1901

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Paolo Monti - Serie fotografica (Italia, 1960) - BEIC 6363665 dettaglioPaolo Monti - Serie fotografica (Italia, 1960) - BEIC 6363665 dettaglioCarte de membre compagnie de l'art brut 1964 de Jean Vincent de CrozalsCarte de membre compagnie de l'art brut 1964 de Jean Vincent de CrozalsDubuffet @ Flaine (51418050136)Dubuffet @ Flaine (51418050136)Jean Dubuffet - sépulture à tubersentJean Dubuffet - sépulture à tubersentJean Dubuffet, 1960 (cropped)Jean Dubuffet, 1960 (cropped)Jean Vincent de Crozals, Jean Dubuffet (à droite) et épouse Dubuffet à Gaudissart 1964Jean Vincent de Crozals, Jean Dubuffet (à droite) et épouse Dubuffet à Gaudissart 1964L'arbre biplan (1968) - Jean Dubuffet (1901 - 1985) (23420452431)L'arbre biplan (1968) - Jean Dubuffet (1901 - 1985) (23420452431)L'arbre biplanL'arbre biplan

In their own words 10

,
Jean Dubuffet
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. In portraits you need a lot of general, very little of specific. Usually there is too much specificity, always too much..

    Jun 29, 1963, Quote in a letter to Max Loreau, 29 June, 1963, reprinted in Prospectus II, Jean Dubuffet; Gallimard, Paris, 1967, pp. 374-375, Own words

  2. This character of depersonalization is certainly a constant of all my personages..

    Jun 29, 1963, Quote in a letter to Max Loreau, 29 June, 1963, reprinted in Prospectus II, Jean Dubuffet; Gallimard, Paris, 1967, pp. 374-375, Own words

  3. In all my works.. .. I have always had recourse to one never-varying method.

    1962, Quote of Dubuffet, in Peter Selz and Jean Dubuffet: The work of Jean Dubuffet, The Museum of Modern art, New York, 1962, Own words

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In their orbit 2

About this person

Born 31 July 1901, Dubuffet spent decades in his family's wine business before committing to painting in his forties. He rejected the polished standards of the École de Paris and went hunting for what he called "art brut" - raw work by psychiatric patients, prisoners, children, anyone outside the academy. The Collection de l'art brut grew into a manifesto: authenticity lived in the margins, not the museums. His own canvases adopted the same rough vocabulary, thick with tar and gravel, figurative but deliberately crude. Exhibitions in France and America followed through the decades until his death on 12 May 1985, by which point he'd made "low art" a high-art position.

Country
France
Category
Artists
Type
Artist
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1901 to 1985 · aged 83

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