Senior International Specialist of Contemporary Art Michael Macaulay examines three distinct works from French painter Jean Debuffet. The first work, being Debuffet’s Scène dans un paysage de rochers, ou Trois malandrins dans les rochers (1946), challenges a common trope of art history within portait paintings, where instead of depicting the upper class, Jean here depicts a group of bandits with the use of a rocky texture made up of asphalt, oil, and plaster among other materials. Chamelier (1948), inspired by the artist’s trips to Southern Algeria, displays themes of memory and the expressive possibilities of paint itself. The third painting, Épisode (1967), a part of Debuffet’s iconic L’Hourloupe series, invokes chaos between absraction and figuration in a seemingly jubilant manner. This painting is a defining work for Jean Debuffet’s lasting legacy on twentieth century art.
All three works by Jean Debuffet will be offered in the David M. Solinger Collection Evening Auction in New York on the 14th of November at 5:30 PM EST. Watch the livestream on Sothebys.com.
