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Lot Essay
‘There appears in Dubuffet’s work a new fusion of form, content and material – beyond the unity of form and content essential to all art.’ – Peter Selz
‘The element of chance is welcomed, although channelled toward the artist’s final aim. Dubuffet is the prestidigitator who uses the accident to perform his sorcery. The articulation resulting in the end is the product of the play among the artist’s hand, his mental image and the nature of the material. Important as the material is to him, he never permits it to gain the upper hand; his attitude is never one of passive acceptance, but neither does he merely execute a preconceived image. He speaks of a dialogue between the artist and his materials and tools. The working process for him is a matter of adventure and discovery.’– Peter Selz
‘Madness unburdens a person, giving him wings and helping his clairvoyance.’ – Jean Dubuffet
Jean Dubuffet’s Personnage des Légendes is an intricate, electrifying gouache. A wide-eyed, multi-coloured figure vibrates against a dramatic black background. Set at a jaunty slant, he is formed from tangled cells of crackling, iridescent blues, pinks and greens, held together by bold black lines which quiver with energy; this lively character seems the physical manifestation of an unknowable psychic state, uninhibited and potent. In 1962, Jean Dubuffet dedicated and gifted Personnage des Légendes to Peter Selz, following the tremendous success of a major Dubuffet exhibition Selz had curated earlier that year at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Its creation coincides with Dubuffet’s work on the Paris Circus series of 1961–1962, a cycle of brilliantly coloured paintings inspired by the French capital. These works represented a profound departure from the earthy palette of his 1950s paintings, which were largely created in the rural setting of Vence, in the bucolic South of France. Upon his return to the city in 1961, Dubuffet began to incorporate brighter colours and an energetic line, channelling the newfound joie de vivre of 1960s Paris. Sharing those works’ vibrant palette, Personnage des Légendes is imbued with the very same urban vitality, an energy and ethos would later go on to inspire the work of artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat. Here, his lively Personnage also makes for a fitting tribute to the dynamic curatorial spirit of Selz himself, who was a vigorous champion of Dubuffet’s unique approach to figuration. Dubuffet’s varied imagery conjures a variety of reference points including Dada and Surrealism – particularly regarding his investment in automatism and materiality – as well as prehistoric cave paintings, graffiti and children’s drawings. He was endlessly curious about materials, working with mixtures of tar and asphalt that he called hautes pâtes, but also oil paint, vinyl, and even the wings of butterflies. Dubuffet ultimately rejected what he called ‘artistic culture’ and instead celebrated artistic creation by outsiders, for whose work he coined the term ‘Art Brut’, roughly translating as ‘raw art’. He embraced this vivid and untutored approach in his own work, channelling a visceral, immediate power that perhaps found its strongest expression in his human figures. As Selz wrote, ‘He may have innumerable followers, but he is part of no school or movement’ (P. Selz, ‘Jean Dubuffet: The Early Works,’ in The Work of Jean Dubuffet, exh. cat., Garden City, New York, 1962, p. 22). Lit up with the bright lights of Dubuffet’s Paris, Personnage des Légendes itself seems blissfully disconnected from traditional figurative aesthetics and considerations, a body charting its own course, astonished by the surrounding world.
‘The element of chance is welcomed, although channelled toward the artist’s final aim. Dubuffet is the prestidigitator who uses the accident to perform his sorcery. The articulation resulting in the end is the product of the play among the artist’s hand, his mental image and the nature of the material. Important as the material is to him, he never permits it to gain the upper hand; his attitude is never one of passive acceptance, but neither does he merely execute a preconceived image. He speaks of a dialogue between the artist and his materials and tools. The working process for him is a matter of adventure and discovery.’– Peter Selz
‘Madness unburdens a person, giving him wings and helping his clairvoyance.’ – Jean Dubuffet
Jean Dubuffet’s Personnage des Légendes is an intricate, electrifying gouache. A wide-eyed, multi-coloured figure vibrates against a dramatic black background. Set at a jaunty slant, he is formed from tangled cells of crackling, iridescent blues, pinks and greens, held together by bold black lines which quiver with energy; this lively character seems the physical manifestation of an unknowable psychic state, uninhibited and potent. In 1962, Jean Dubuffet dedicated and gifted Personnage des Légendes to Peter Selz, following the tremendous success of a major Dubuffet exhibition Selz had curated earlier that year at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Its creation coincides with Dubuffet’s work on the Paris Circus series of 1961–1962, a cycle of brilliantly coloured paintings inspired by the French capital. These works represented a profound departure from the earthy palette of his 1950s paintings, which were largely created in the rural setting of Vence, in the bucolic South of France. Upon his return to the city in 1961, Dubuffet began to incorporate brighter colours and an energetic line, channelling the newfound joie de vivre of 1960s Paris. Sharing those works’ vibrant palette, Personnage des Légendes is imbued with the very same urban vitality, an energy and ethos would later go on to inspire the work of artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat. Here, his lively Personnage also makes for a fitting tribute to the dynamic curatorial spirit of Selz himself, who was a vigorous champion of Dubuffet’s unique approach to figuration. Dubuffet’s varied imagery conjures a variety of reference points including Dada and Surrealism – particularly regarding his investment in automatism and materiality – as well as prehistoric cave paintings, graffiti and children’s drawings. He was endlessly curious about materials, working with mixtures of tar and asphalt that he called hautes pâtes, but also oil paint, vinyl, and even the wings of butterflies. Dubuffet ultimately rejected what he called ‘artistic culture’ and instead celebrated artistic creation by outsiders, for whose work he coined the term ‘Art Brut’, roughly translating as ‘raw art’. He embraced this vivid and untutored approach in his own work, channelling a visceral, immediate power that perhaps found its strongest expression in his human figures. As Selz wrote, ‘He may have innumerable followers, but he is part of no school or movement’ (P. Selz, ‘Jean Dubuffet: The Early Works,’ in The Work of Jean Dubuffet, exh. cat., Garden City, New York, 1962, p. 22). Lit up with the bright lights of Dubuffet’s Paris, Personnage des Légendes itself seems blissfully disconnected from traditional figurative aesthetics and considerations, a body charting its own course, astonished by the surrounding world.