Jean Dubuffet

Private Collection
Sale: SCP Digard Pestel-Debord Commissaires Priseurs Judiciaires, Vente judiciaire aux enchères publique sur saisie d‘une collection d‘oeuvres d‘art à la requête de Total Lubrifiants, 3 December 2012, Lot 30
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Jean Dubuffet, 1973, pp. 140-41, exhibition and illustration of the polyester example
Berlin, Akademie der Künste; Vienna, Museum Moderner Kunst, Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts, Schweizergarten; Cologne, Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle, Dubuffet: Retrospektive, 1980-81, p. 237, illustration of another example in colour, p. 378, illustration of the polyester example
Paris, Fondation Jean Dubuffet, La Fondation Jean Dubuffet, 1989, p. 20, an example from the series exhibited and illustrated
Martigny, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Dubuffet, 1993, pp. 179-80, exhibition and illustration of the polyester and the epoxy resin examples

Max Loreau, Catalogue des Travaux de Jean Dubuffet: Tour aux Figures, Amoncellements, Cabinet Logologique, fasc. XXIV, Lausanne 1973, pp. 15 to 17, illustration of the polyester example

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality of the gastrovolve is slightly warmer in the original. Condition; This work is in very good condition. Close inspection reveals some minute fly spots scattered in places, most notably to the top of the Tour aux Figures, and some light and shallow surface scratches in a few isolated places. Further very close inspection of Tour aux Figures reveals a thin horizontal crack at the back of the sculpture, approximately 40cm from the bottom. Further very close inspection of both elements reveals some light wear to the edges, notably towards the lower half.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Standing as a true testament to one of the artist’s most ambitious projects, the monumental construction of the 24-meter high Tour Aux Figures in Issy-les-Moulineaux, the present sculpture offers a pivotal insight into Jean Dubuffet’s iconic explorations of sculpture. The signature red, blue and white design simultaneously captures one of the most celebrated formal developments of Dubuffet’s multifaceted career, making Tour aux Figures a rare and alluring example from the artist’s oeuvre.

First executed in 1967, Tour aux Figures is one of the earliest architectural models that the artist worked on, and one of the latest to be realised on a large scale. Originally not intended as an architectural model, but as the fifth in a series of three-dimensional towers that Dubuffet produced since 1966, the work brilliantly captures the artist’s exploratory spirit. After the transformative Paris Circus series of 1961, in which Dubuffet introduced the human figure in a much more peaceful and joyful series of works, he would discover the radically new aesthetic of the celebrated Hourloupe works by accident during the following year. Scribbling with red and blue biro during a telephone conversation, the captivating colourful patterns would come to constitute one of Dubuffet’s most iconic bodies of work.

In was not until 1966, however, that Dubuffet transformed his signature new style into three-dimensional designs. Now at the age of 65, the artist had once again embarked on a new discovery, this time of the three-dimensional application of the Hourloupe pattern, and eventually of a series of daring architectural undertakings. As the very first of his designs that the artist considered for execution on a monumental scale, and as the actual model on which he based his 24-meter high tower, the present work is of tremendous historical importance. The playful and instantly captivating Hourloupe pattern, here for the first time transformed into an architectural model, creates a striking design that stands out from the surrounding landscape. As the artist explained: “It seems to me important to succeed under any circumstances in developing a space that no longer corresponds with naturalistic space, but with a dissected and dissolved version” (Jean Dubuffet quoted in: Exhibition Catalogue, Bilbao, Guggenheim Bilbao, Jean Dubuffet, 2003-04, p. 178).

In its fusion of the artist’s characteristically colourful design with his newfound interest in sculpture and architecture, Tour aux Figures offers a rare insight into Jean Dubuffet’s accomplished oeuvre. Its final manifestation as a 24-meter high tower emphasises the iconic nature of this undertaking, and is a fitting monument to the ambitious achievements of one of France’s most influential Post-War artists.