Lot 115
  • 115

Jean Dubuffet

Estimate
70,000 - 100,000 GBP
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Description

  • Jean Dubuffet
  • Chameau et Bédouin
  • signed and dated 47
  • gouache on paper
  • 27 by 21.2 cm. 10 5/8 by 8 3/8 in.

Provenance

Athur Tooth & Sons, London
Private Collection, London
Private Collection, London
Waddington Galleries, London
Hopkins-Custot Gallery, Paris
Private Collection
Phillips, New York, 16 May 2014, Lot 220
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Literature

Max Loreau, Catalogue des Travaux de Jean Dubuffet, Fascicule IV: Roses d'Allah, Clowns du Désert, Paris 1967, p. 18. no. 13, illustrated

Condition

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate. Condition: Please refer to the Contemporary Art Department for a professional condition report.
"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 statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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Catalogue Note

Executed during Jean Dubuffet’s travels to the El Golea Sahara in Algeria, between February and April 1947, Chameau et Bédouin is a great example from an exceptional body of early works that the artist made during his first trip to the desert, of which only 23 examples are listed in his catalogue raisonne. Although this initial journey presented an escape from the freezing European winter, Dubuffet would return to El Golea twice over the subsequent years, demonstrating the affinity he had with the place – and indeed the influence it had on his work.

During the difficult post-war years in Europe, meeting the Bedouin people of the Algerian desert, with whom the artist spent considerable amounts of time (and even attempted to learn the language), must have been a welcome escape from daily life in the city. As recounted by Dubuffet himself: “we came back from there absolutely cleansed of all the intoxications, really refreshed and renewed, as well as enriched in the ways of savoir-vivre’ (Jean Dubuffet quoted in: Prospectus et tous écrits suivants, Vol. 2, Paris 1995, pp. 247-248).

But the artist’s interest in the Bedouins was more than mere escapism after the war: in many ways, his fascination in non-Western cultures was linked to art brut; an interest in visual cultures that was independent of official dogmas and the art school system. Reacting against the Enlightenment ideals of rationality and progress that had dominated in western societies, Dubuffet and his contemporaries turned to alternative traditions – such as the drawings of children or the mentally ill. The isolated lifestyle of the Bedouins and their unfamiliar rituals would have appealed to the artist’s visual sensibility, as they were outside the reach of the mainstream European art-historical tradition.

As exemplified beautifully in Chameau et Bédouin, Dubuffet became fascinated by his new surroundings, and captured its novelty in an exciting body of work. In the present work, two of the most impressive figures from El Golea, which are important recurring motives throughout the series, are depicted in their desert surroundings: the Bedouin with his bright white dress, and the camel. Portrayed against an imposing sand dune with a distant blue sky, the composition powerfully captures the artist’s stay in the desert, and the alternative it offered to the visual traditions of the west –thus embodying the spirit of Jean Dubuffet’s innovative post-war oeuvre.