Jean Dubuffet's Brutal Beauty
Brutal Beauty champions Dubuffet’s rebellious philosophy. Railing against conventional ideas of beauty, he tried to capture the poetry of everyday life in a gritty, more authentic way. This is the first major survey of his work in the UK for over 50 years, showcasing four decades of his career, from early portraits and fantastical statues, to butterfly assemblages and giant colourful canvases. Dubuffet endlessly experimented and was clear on his purpose:
‘Art should always make you laugh a little and fear a little. Anything but bore’.
Alongside his own work, the exhibition features works from Dubuffet’s collection of Art Brut (a phrase he coined, which translates literally as ‘raw art’). Acquired throughout his life, these works, and the artists that created them, profoundly impacted his approach to the making and meaning of art.
One of the most astonishing yet daring pieces was the ‘Ladies’ bodies’ - he started by mixing a thick paste from zinc oxide and a viscous varnish, applying it to the canvas with a putty knife to create ‘textures calling to mind human esh (sometimes perhaps going beyond the point of decency)’. This mixture would repel oil paint, so that when he brushed on thin layers of sensual colours they would marble into unexpected patterns, suggesting the ‘invisible world of uids circulating in bodies’.
That same year, he also began using quick-drying enamel paints, perhaps inspired by the American Abstract Expressionists, whose work he had admired on recent visits to New York. He mixed the industrial paints with oil, which created a ‘lively incompatibility’, especially as he worked into each thin layer before the last was fully dry. The technique generated what he called ‘strange bewildering worlds that exercise a kind of fascination’. Titles such as The Extravagant One feel tting for the beguiling characters – part beast, part human – who emerge from the eld of paint like phantoms in a dream.
“Being surrounded by his collection again had sparked his interest in creating a stylized world of his own – ‘a dive into fantasy ... a parallel universe’.”
The exhibition is open until 22 Aug 2021 - get tickets here