Jean Dubuffet: Raw Art

 If at first you don't succeed...

I love it when I see an artist with really varied kinds of work; a sign of experimentation; learning; process and not settling when something 'works' or proves commercially successful. Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985 birth-date 31st July) had 3 goes at establishing his art practice: leaving his Paris Art School in 1918, put off by the academic approach & wanting to study independently, then 'getting a proper job' starting a wine business in 1925, then Art again, in 1934, then back to the business, until finally, Art yet again in 1942. 

Artist in his Vincennes Studio, France, 1972

(L) Algerian Landscape, 1920 (R) Fear, 1924

(L) Moonrise in Ghosts, 1951 (R) The Beautiful Horned, 1954 

I'm glad he made it - eventually; throwing all he had into his art - which sometimes included grit; coal dust; sand; straw; tar- his 'Hautes Pates' - or as one critic put it: 'scraping the dustbin'. He favoured 'low art', establishing the Art Brut movement, and accumulating a vast collection of such work.

Being included in a Pierre Matisse Exhibition alongside Picasso, Braque, Rouault & others in 1944 sealed the deal. A long, hard, slog, with the need to earn money to support a family, and German occupation of France thrown in. 

View of Paris Small Business, 1944

I loved it when I came across the picture of the black & white enamel-like 'playground', or 'jardin d'email', which I had walked about on at the Kroller Muller Museum on an Art Field trip when I was 20. I hadn't realized it was by him, and it was a great reminder of an amazing Art venture. One man with several Art Movements encapsulated in his working life; better than staying in the wine trade for 'security'. Enjoy!