Jean Dubuffet

Rudi Augustinci, Paris
Galerie Rive Gauche, Paris
Ethel Scull, New York
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
Stephen Hahn Gallery, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 1962

New York, Kootz Gallery, French and American Art, June 1957

Max Loreau, ed., Catalogue des travaux de Jean Dubuffet, Fascicule X: Vaches, Petites statues de la vie précaire, Paris, 1969, cat. no. 97, p. 74 illustrated

This work is in very good condition overall. There is evidence of light wear and handling along the edges that has resulted in scattered hairline craquelure at the pull margins. In the lower right quadrant there is a crack of two inches in length. There is evidence of scattered hairline craquelure through careful inspection most often found in the more heavily impastoed sections. Under Ultraviolet light inspection, there is no evidence of restoration. Framed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any stat.mes nt made by Replica Shoes 's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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A staunch advocate of Art Brut, Jean Dubuffet utilizes his canvases as both a representation of the deepest primal elements of the human psyche as well as a subversion of convention. Deviating from the trend among his contemporaries in the Parisian art scene, Dubuffet instead drew his inspiration from society’s outsiders, namely insane-asylum prisoners, once stating in a lecture he delivered at the Arts Club of Chicago in 1951: “I must confess that I have a very keen interest in delirium. I am convinced that art has a great deal to do with delirium.”

In Banlieue, conventional pictorial elements of naturalism, form, color and perspective are rejected for bricolage, automatism, compulsive repetition, chance and often t.mes s unorthodox materials such as stones, barks and aluminum foil. Lush strokes of paint are slathered on the surface so voraciously that one can almost feel the presence of the artist in front of the canvas, crouched over it like a wild animal approaching its prey. Such primal sensibility runs in conjunction with Jackson Pollocks' drip paintings; he too utilized his canvases as an expression of the inner self. The dense materiality of the present work, its physicality and presence, almost render it an object unto itself. Banlieue has a captivating effect of being at once raw and brutal but retaining an innocence wholly unique to Dubuffet's “anti-cultural” paintings.

Dubuffet has elaborated: “Painting has a twofold advantage over language. First of all, it evokes objects more forcefully, it gets closer to them. Secondly, it opens wider gates to the inner dancing of the painter’s mind. These two properties make painting a marvelous instrument for provoking thought – or, if you like, clairvoyance. And also a marvelous instrument for exteriorizing this clairvoyance and permitting us to share it with the painter. By utilizing these two powerful means, painting can illuminate the world with magnificent discoveries. It can imbue man with new myths and new mystiques, to reveal the infinitely numerous undivined aspects of things and values of which we were formerly unaware. This, I think, is a much more engrossing task for artists than assemblages of shapes and colors to please the eyes.”