Jean Dubuffet

Paul Facchetti Collection, Paris
Private Collection, Geneva
Sale: Sotheby's, Paris, Art Contemporain, 7 December 2011, lot 10
Acquired from the above sale by the current owner

Jean Dubuffet, Jean Dubuffet: catalogue des peintures faites à Vence du 1er avril au 31 août 1957, Paris, 1958, n.p., no. 21, illustrated
Max Loreau, Catalogue des travaux de Jean Dubuffet, Fascicule XIII, Célébrations du sol I, lieux cursifs, texturologies, topographies, Lausanne, 1969, p. 49, no. 62, illustrated

The colours are fairly accurate in the catalogue illustration although the contrast is stronger in the original. The work is on its original canvas and it is not relined. Some scattered pinholes are visible along the edges and in some of the assembled canvas pieces, inherent to the artist's technique. Each of the four corners presents some wear marks, as do the black edges. There is a small area of hairline stabilized cracks located on the upper left quadrant, close to the left edge, are visible only under very close inspection. Under Ultra Violet light inspection, there is no evidence of restoration. This work is in excellent condition.
"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.
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."

COMP (black and white photo of artist in field)
Jean Dubuffet dans le collines des environs de Vence, août 1959
© Archives Fondation Dubuffet, Paris / photo John Craven

COMP (cover of catalogues)
Catalogue des travaux de Jean Dubuffet, couverture du Fascicule XIII, Célébration du sol I, 1957-1958, Weber éditeur, Paris/Genève, 1969
© Archives Fondation Dubuffet, Paris

Catalogue des travaux de Jean Dubuffet, couverture du Fascicule XIV, Célébration du sol II, 1958-1959, Weber éditeur, Paris/Genève, 1969
© Archives Fondation Dubuffet, Paris

COMP (work-garden)
Gustav Klimt, Bauerngarten (Blumengarten), 1907, Private Collection

 

"In front of a printed image, I have the strong feeling that I have caught by surprise the image of secret things, of the ignored stages in the formation of things, as if their presence held more importance than their nature."

Jean Dubuffet

 

"The forms appreciated by living matter are the same everywhere, whether they be small objects or great geographical developments. In this spirit I like to interfere with scale in such a way that it is not clear if the picture represents a vast stretch of mountains, or a tiny piece of land."

Jean Dubuffet

 

At the beginning of 1955, Jean Dubuffet moved to the small, perched village of Vence in the heart of the Massif Provencal. A new phase thus begins in the artist's work, a phase of experimentation with matter and relief effects in landscapes which were the best way of representing his research and will become one of the primary subjects of his production.

In Dubuffet's work, the period of the 1950s represented the celebration of the material. Experimenting with the most unusual techniques, the artist threw himself into a project of tectonic excavation that only he, 'the man of ordinary things", could develop. Using pencils, paintbrushes even scissors, stamps and occasionally knives, the artist probed geological strata to reveal the world's hidden beauty, so that the familiar becomes strange and the everyday magical in the space of an instant. From the surprising perspective of the ground seen vertically from above, Dubuffet opens the door onto a fabulous dimension of the world, hitherto inaccessible. A world on the edge of the world.