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Lot Essay
Jean Dubuffet’s Paysage belongs to a rare series of butterfly paintings created in the fleeting summer days of 1953. Reflecting a spectrum of copper, ochre, periwinkle, and cream, the dappled butterflies form an intricate landscape, with three whimsical characters dressed in ornate costumes emerging from the composition like a trompe-l’oeuil. Taking cues from the natural irregularities of each unique butterfly, Paysage was informed by the unique colours and shapes of each wing. Thus, the moiré-like sage wingtips transform into rolling hills, while iridescent mauve becomes a windswept sky. The pin-point spots become the eyes of three distinct figures who emerge out of the landscape. The beautifully iridescent surface completes the composition; the tactility of the sumptuous filigree introduces a sense of pictorial depth that hints at representation without ever defining it. As Dubuffet proclaimed, ‘I believe that the meaning, or rather the meanings, of any work of art should be wide open so that each of us can absorb it into our own particular universe’ (J. Dubuffet, quoted in Jean Dubuffet: A Retrospective, exh. cat., Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, 1973, p. 35).
In July of that year Dubuffet holidayed in the Savoie in Chaillol region of France with his friends Lili and Pierre Bettencourt. Max Loreau, author of Dubuffet’s catalogue raisonné described how from August through October 1953, the artist was so inspired by the landscape that he worked almost exclusively with butterfly wings to create a discrete series of assemblages, of which this work is one. Following this brief summer season at Chaillol, Dubuffet was so enthused by this experience that in October he developed a lithograph process to enabled him to continue working with his beloved butterflies. Substituting ink-mottled paper, he would create textured imprints of ridged wings, speckled porphyry, grooved wood, and bubbly cork, which he would then assemble into collages. Paysage, 1953, was originally part of the distinguished Bissett collection. The American collectors were close friends of Jean and Lili Dubuffet, and acquired Paysage, 1953, directly from the artist. It remained in their collection for twenty years. Following the death of Enid Bissett in 1965, her husband Joe gave several works from his collection, including seven works by Dubuffet, to the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin.
Crafted from fabric imbued with organic characteristics, Dubuffet constructs a landscape out of the building blocks of nature, seeking to create an artwork that appears to have organically sprung from nature itself. Manifesting Dubuffet’s insatiable interest in found details, texture, and materials, the butterfly fascinated the artist with the possibilities it enabled him to create, describing the wings as ‘a diaphanous iridescent haze, impossible to analyse and richly luminous’ (J. Dubuffet, quoted in V. da Costa & F. Hergott (eds.), Jean Dubuffet, Barcelona 2006, p. 61). In Paysage, the viewer is encouraged to mentally craft the landscape from the organic components. ‘With respect to the use of this sparkling coloured material- the constituent part of which remain indistinguishable- with the aim of producing a very vidid effect of scintillation. I realized that, for me this responds to needs of the same order as those that formerly led me, in many drawings and paintings, to organize my lines and patches of colour so that the objects represented would meld into everything around them, so that the result would be a sort of continuous, universal soup with an intense flavour of life’ (J. Dubuffet, quoted in V. da Costa & F. Hergott (eds.), Jean Dubuffet, Barcelona 2006, p. 61).
In its raw tactility, Paysage is informed by the earthy, primitive nature of Dubuffet’s earliest Art Brut artworks. The pure, organic materiality of the butterfly wing highlights the fragility of both human and material life. In his choice of materials, Dubuffet stressed the importance in the use of raw materials in the same way that he sought inspiration in ordinary life. Dubuffet’s whimsical use of gleaming butterflies reflects this interest: the fragility and intensity of the wings exemplify the astounding beauty that is present in the everyday.
In July of that year Dubuffet holidayed in the Savoie in Chaillol region of France with his friends Lili and Pierre Bettencourt. Max Loreau, author of Dubuffet’s catalogue raisonné described how from August through October 1953, the artist was so inspired by the landscape that he worked almost exclusively with butterfly wings to create a discrete series of assemblages, of which this work is one. Following this brief summer season at Chaillol, Dubuffet was so enthused by this experience that in October he developed a lithograph process to enabled him to continue working with his beloved butterflies. Substituting ink-mottled paper, he would create textured imprints of ridged wings, speckled porphyry, grooved wood, and bubbly cork, which he would then assemble into collages. Paysage, 1953, was originally part of the distinguished Bissett collection. The American collectors were close friends of Jean and Lili Dubuffet, and acquired Paysage, 1953, directly from the artist. It remained in their collection for twenty years. Following the death of Enid Bissett in 1965, her husband Joe gave several works from his collection, including seven works by Dubuffet, to the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin.
Crafted from fabric imbued with organic characteristics, Dubuffet constructs a landscape out of the building blocks of nature, seeking to create an artwork that appears to have organically sprung from nature itself. Manifesting Dubuffet’s insatiable interest in found details, texture, and materials, the butterfly fascinated the artist with the possibilities it enabled him to create, describing the wings as ‘a diaphanous iridescent haze, impossible to analyse and richly luminous’ (J. Dubuffet, quoted in V. da Costa & F. Hergott (eds.), Jean Dubuffet, Barcelona 2006, p. 61). In Paysage, the viewer is encouraged to mentally craft the landscape from the organic components. ‘With respect to the use of this sparkling coloured material- the constituent part of which remain indistinguishable- with the aim of producing a very vidid effect of scintillation. I realized that, for me this responds to needs of the same order as those that formerly led me, in many drawings and paintings, to organize my lines and patches of colour so that the objects represented would meld into everything around them, so that the result would be a sort of continuous, universal soup with an intense flavour of life’ (J. Dubuffet, quoted in V. da Costa & F. Hergott (eds.), Jean Dubuffet, Barcelona 2006, p. 61).
In its raw tactility, Paysage is informed by the earthy, primitive nature of Dubuffet’s earliest Art Brut artworks. The pure, organic materiality of the butterfly wing highlights the fragility of both human and material life. In his choice of materials, Dubuffet stressed the importance in the use of raw materials in the same way that he sought inspiration in ordinary life. Dubuffet’s whimsical use of gleaming butterflies reflects this interest: the fragility and intensity of the wings exemplify the astounding beauty that is present in the everyday.