Portrait of Jean Paulhan

Jean Dubuffet's Portrait of Jean Paulhan composed in 1955 is one of twenty eight portraits that the artist created on the French writer and critic, and represents more than a decade-long friendship. The surrealist writer Georges Limbour introduced Paulhan to Dubuffet in 1943, who typically found himself more at ease within literary circles than in the company of other artists. As a self-proclaimed malcontent and dissenter of his époque, Dubuffet refused to be récupéré par la culture, or subsumed by day's prevailing consumer Post-War culture. Rather, Dubuffet chose to participate in an anti-aesthetic, and saw the act of painting as a manipulation of materials, which he viewed as living substances. Placing importance on the materiality of a composition, Dubuffet experimented with a number of atypical materials in his work, included sand, tar and dirt. Portrait of Jean Paulhan is from a particular series of assemblages d'empreintes, where the artist used actual butterfly wings and paper resulting in a breathtaking collage; a technique he continued to utilize until 1957.

Dubuffet emphasized, above all, the value of the materials he used and the visual effect they created. He felt this allowed for his work to be experienced in a number of unique ways, specific to the viewer. 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, Jean Dubuffet: A Retrospective, Ex. Cat., Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 1973, p. 35). Dubuffet stressed the importance in the use of raw materials in the same way that he sought inspiration in ordinary life, or the bread, rather than the exceptional, or the cake. His use of butterflies reflects this interest, and the fragility and intensity of the wings exemplify the astounding beauty that is present in the everyday. Additionally the caricature and childlike depiction of his friend Paulhan are indicative of his desire to strip away his academic artistic training and classical style in order to return to an artistic innocence.
In Portrait of Jean Paulhan Dubuffet removes all external influences and flattens the picture plane, leaving the viewer to face Paulhan directly, without props, contexts, or distance. This immediately asserts the intimate and casual nature of Dubuffet's relationship with the writer and creates a similar personal connection between the subject and the viewer. Even through the whimsical use of butterfly wings, Dubuffet is able to capture the humanistic aspects of Paulhan's face, and truly expresses the close friendship that he greatly valued with the writer.