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| J.Dubuffet 1947 - No title |
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| Aloise - DOlly Cup 1961 |
With certain artists there are likes and dislikes, probably more of the latter than finding something to relate to. Jean Dubuffet (1918-1985) is one of those artists for me. He was very interested and influenced I would think by artistry in the mentally ill (Aloise) and there his work is child like, practically art brut.
It wasn’t until yesterday that it became very clear why I can’t really enter into his picture frame.
The exhibition «Chaissac -Dubuffet between pen and brush», makes it so obvious why I can’t relate to Dubuffet’s work. Next to Chaissac it is far too busy. Practically in my book, claustrophobic. Many would say «but you enjoy other artists (to mention only three, Jackson Pollock, De Konning, Masson....) so why not Dubuffet»?
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| 1945-46 Person in a twilight zone |
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| No title 1947 |
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| Moor rising with ghosts - Dubuffet 1951 |
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| The Joy of living - 1949 - Dubuffet |
Gaston Chaissac (1910-1964) and Jean Dubuffet had very different backgrounds. Chaissac came from a broken and practically illiterate family and dropped out of school at early age. His health was not good and he died of tuberculosis. Dubuffet’s family was well to do and recognized. Wine merchants. He was the artist who introduced the definition of Art Brut defining a certain naive creation or an art form outside the boundaries of official culture. The term is sometimes appropriated as a catch-all marketing label for art created by people outside the mainstream "art world," regardless of their circumstances or the content of their work. It’s an easy word to retain and I have been to exhibitions which were torturously not art brut and yet they became so as they could not be categorized!
Both men were writers, sculptors and even musicians but looking at their work side by side, Dubuffet’s became even more overcrowded than I had previously seen and left me feeling slightly dizzy.
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| Front cover for his famous Hourloup series (J.D."Scriptions" 1964) |
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| No title 1951 |
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| The Last Supper 1959 |
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| Door 1953 (also a similar one in the Werner exhibition) |
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| GEOGRAPHY 1955 _ DUBUFFET |
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| COLLAGE 1956 |
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| Personnage 1961 |
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| The Illusionary place 1961 |
Their «relationship» began in 1946 with regular letters describing their work and their personel lives. Chaissac’s work in my book is much more varied than Dubuffet’s. Sculpture, use of all elements, collage, oil......it’s thanks to Dubuffet that Chaissac has an exhibition in Paris in 1947.
Over 20 years there is a prolific correspondence between the two men but I am not sure if in actual fact they ever met. Dubuffet seems to be much more sophisticated in his changes and also appears to work in series where as Chassiac adopts collages or sculptures. From my point of view there is more freedom in his work. His recuperation of wood, tin, blackboard etc. has a dynamism about it that I don’t necessarily find in Dubuffet’s work. I can laugh at Chassiac’s totems but seem to frown at some of the portraits painted by Dubuffet.
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| Dubuffet 1960 |
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| Oil on blackboard - 1954 - Chaissac |
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| Oil on metal -1960 (G.C) |
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| Totem 1960 (G.C.) |
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| Totem 1960 (G.C.) |
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| 1954-55 Chaissiac |
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| No title - Totem 1963 (G.C.) |
Fortunately I do like some of his work and here are certain examples of this. His visits to the Algerian desert on several occasions are periods I enjoy as ther is more space in his paintings.
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| Camel driver and two camels 1948 |
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| Dubuffet - three colored cow 1954 |
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| Jean Dubuffet - cow drawing 1961 (?) |
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| Muddy pavement 1959 (J.D.) |
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| Stones and grass - Dubuffet 1955 |
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| Bedouin and his camel 1947-48 |
But if I find Dubuffet difficult to digest is that there is no freedom in his painting for me. It is busy, crowded .... Chassiac has space. When he abandons the black line, a definite signature, his work seems to float across a canvass whereas the change made by Dubuffet in the early 60’s is so radical that I want to push lines aside. I partly agree with his description of our major department store, Les Galeries Lafayette (1961) ) the crowds are enough to make anyone feel hemmed in. I loathe crowds and seek space. Chassiacs responds to this inner need.
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| Cristillisation of a dog - Dubuffet 1954 |
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| Jean Dubuffet - Trinité, Champs Elysées 1961 |
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| The Illusionary place 1961 (J.D.) |
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| No title 1964 (G.C) - no black lines |
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| No title 1964 |
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| Musicians in the desert 1948 (J.D.) |
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| Jean Dubuffet - Galeries Lafayette 1961 |
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| No title 1961 yet you can see them dancing.... |
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| Chaissac- Deux personnages 1945 |
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| G.C. Personnage 1947 |
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| Man in a beret 1963 |
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| No Title 1948(G.C.) |
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| Madonna with child 1320 |
Today Marielle and I went to the Louvre to discover Giotto di Bondone’s work (1267-1337). Admired by Leonard de Vinci and copied by Michel-Ange, this was a culture shock versus yesterday. Religious art of course but this time I appreciated the difference between 13/14th century and the Renaissance. Giotto’s faces changed all the time. A baby looked like an adult in a Mother’s arms.
Proportions were wrong and yet his work (which I may have seen in Florence with Gianni) was fascinating because of these oddities.
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