Jean Dubuffet is a France-born artist. He is one of the prominent artists of Art Brut and Post-War Europe. Dubuffet is well-known for his anti-aesthetic position and its realization in the gritty, raw, and fascinated paintings.
Dubuffet’s Garden with Melitaea (Jardin aux Mélitées) (1955) is an example of his work. It depicts flowers and butterfly wings. The dominant color of brown in this painting reminds me of soil. Some thick lines look like cracks in the ground. The viewer can find Dubuffet’s raw character in this painting. Raw art is usually defined as art that is made outside the academic tradition of fine art. Raw art is famous for its distinctive characters, such as simple, childlike, and naïve painting style.
Jean Dubuffet, Garden with Melitaea (Jardin aux Mélitées), 4 September 1955, Collection Fondation Dubuffet, Paris © 2021 ADAGP, Paris/DACS, London. https://sites.barbican.org.uk/
Dubuffet’s Garden with Melitaea also represents his anti-cultural position. For Dubuffet, ‘anti-cultural means “drawing the viewer’s attention to the materiality of paint itself and advocating for a closeness to raw matter and organic forms.” This philosophy is underlying the 1950s Dubuffet’s series of works celebrating soil and earth. He used organic materials and composed assemblages of butterfly wings. Dubuffet believed our inner structure of mind has a relationship with the ground beneath our feet.
Jean Dubuffet, Vicissitudes, 1977. © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2021. https://www.tate.org.uk/
Dubuffet’s remarkable artworks will be displayed in an exhibition entitled Brutal Beauty, at The Art Gallery, Barbican Centre, London, from 17 May— 22 Aug 2021. You can book tickets online in advance at https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2021/event/jean-dubuffet-brutal-beauty
Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty
