PRESS RELEASE 2012
Jean Dubuffet: Transitions
20 October 2012 – 3 February 2013
Pallant House Gallery is delighted to present the first
major review in a UK public gallery for nearly 50 years of
the work of the influential artist Jean Dubuffet (19011985), regarded as one of the greatest artists of the
20th century. The exhibition has been organised with
the assistance of the Fondation Dubuffet, Paris and will
feature key paintings, drawings and sculpture from
collections across France and the UK.
Dubuffet is best known as the father of Art Brut (‘raw art’),
coining the concept in 1945 and creating a celebrated Art
Brut collection. Throughout his life Dubuffet sought out nonprofessional or self-taught artists that he perceived to be
‘unscathed by artistic culture’. Their work subverted the
traditional canon of beauty, and Dubuffet found within them
a raw expressive power that was vital to his practice.
The exhibition at Pallant House Gallery will be shown
alongside a season of exhibitions exploring nontraditional creativity including Outside In: National (27
October 2012 to 3 February 2013) the Gallery’s pioneering
triennial open art competition for artists from the margins,
some of whom could be considered to be Outsider or Art
Brut artists.
Jean Dubuffet: Transitions focuses on a particular moment
in Dubuffet’s career dating from the early 1960s when a
radical change occurred in his art. During this time Dubuffet
completed the Paris Circus series (1961) and embarked on
his longest and most original series of work, L’Hourloupe
(1962-1974). These new compositions were driven by an
interest in representing the divergent thought patterns that
occur in a person’s mind, and were characterised by a cellular
structure and strong graphic quality.
This period also coincided with the return of his Art Brut
collection from a decade-long stay in the United States and
the exhibition both charts the artist’s transition towards this
new way of working and explores the relationship between
his experimentation with techniques such as automatic
drawing and compulsive repetition with the renewed
proximity of the Art Brut works.
INFORMATION | IMAGES | INTERVIEWS
Emma Robertson
Head of Press & Communications
01243 770841
e.robertson@pallant.org.uk
Pallant House Gallery
9 North Pallant
Chichester
West Sussex
PO19 1TJ
United Kingdom
Charity No. 293093
Jean Dubuffet, Affluence (1961),and Solario (portrait), 1961© ADAGP, Paris and
DACS, London 2012.
Speaking of his work towards the end of his life, Dubuffet
stated: “In all my work there are two different winds that
blow, one carrying me to exaggerate the marks of
intervention, and the other, the opposite, which leads me to
eliminate all human presence...and to drink from the source
of this absence”. Prior to the early 1960s Dubuffet had been
working clearly in the latter mode and the exhibition opens
with an example from the Texturologies paintings,
‘Texturologie IX (jaune)’, (1957) which is distinctive by its
human absence.
In February 1961, Dubuffet returned to live in Paris where
he began the Paris Circus cycle as a response to the
sprawling city with its jostling crowds, bustling streets and
illuminated shop windows. The exhibition includes several
examples from this series such as Affluence (1961) and
Vire-volte (1961), and also the more abstract ‘La gigue
irlandaise’ (1961). This latter composition is the absolute
opposite of the Texturologies cycle and, in its chaotic linear
patterns, it is possible to see the first strands of the
Hourloupe format.
In 1962, Dubuffet produced a series of automatic
drawings, drawn with a red, blue and black pen. This proved
to be a critical turning point for the artist, marking the start
of the Hourloupe cycle which he was to immerse himself in
completely until 1974. Limiting himself to three colours
Dubuffet sought to intensify his imagination and to reach a
state of mind which he perceived the authors of Art brut as
possessing instinctively.
Cont.
01243 774557
info@pallant.org.uk
www.pallant.org.uk
Tues-Sat 10am-5pm
Thurs 10am-8pm
Sun 11am -5pm
Closed Mondays
Adult £9*, Child £3.50
Student £5.50*, Family £21.50*
*includes voluntary donation
PRESS RELEASE 2012
The exhibition at Pallant House Gallery includes the first
maquette book of the Hourloupe drawings from 1961
loaned by the Fondation Dubuffet, as well as key paintings
and sculpture from the series such as ‘Tasse de the VII’
(1967), ‘Solario (portrait)’ and ‘L’Auditeur’ (1967).
Featuring the use of compulsive repetition and macroscopic
viewpoints, many of these works recall the obsessive and
impenetrable style developed by some of the artists in
his Art Brut collection.
The show will also feature posters, photographs and works
on paper exploring Dubuffet’s relationship with key figures in
the British art world such as Roland Penrose and Robert
Fraser. These include ephemera relating to British exhibitions
of Dubuffet’s work during the period such as posters
advertising exhibitions at the ICA, Robert Fraser Gallery and
Tate Gallery.
The exhibition Curator, Katy Norris says: “Dubuffet’s career
is characterised by extraordinary fluctuations in style and
technical approaches. This reflected his longstanding belief
that there was no single way of seeing or interpreting the
world, an idea that was very much driven by his engagement
with marginalised artists.”
Notes to Editors
This is the first exhibition in a public gallery since the Arts
Council retrospective at the Tate Gallery in 1966.
The exhibition has been organised with the assistance of the
Fondation Dubuffet, Paris and features key paintings,
drawings and sculpture from collections across France and
the UK including the Centre Pompidou and Musée des Arts
décoratifs, Paris and Tate, London.
Jean Dubuffet: Transitions will be shown in alongside a
season of exhibitions exploring non-traditional creativity
including Outside In: National (27 October 2012 to 3
February 2013) the Gallery’s pioneering triennial open art
competition for artists from the margins and a show of
prints and drawings by the self-taught Scottish artist Pat
Douthwaite (23 Oct 2012 – 3 February 2013).
For more information about the exhibition season go to
www.pallant.org.uk
“Reunited with his Art Brut collection in 1962, Dubuffet
looked within himself and fabricated a remarkable parallel
universe. The L’Hourloupe cycle explodes the parameters of
what we commonly perceive to be our reality and is
testament to the depth and complexity of a single person’s
imagination.”
Ends.
INFORMATION | IMAGES | INTERVIEWS
Emma Robertson
Head of Press & Communications
01243 770841
e.robertson@pallant.org.uk
Pallant House Gallery
9 North Pallant
Chichester
West Sussex
PO19 1TJ
United Kingdom
Charity No. 293093
01243 774557
info@pallant.org.uk
www.pallant.org.uk
Tues-Sat 10am-5pm
Thurs 10am-8pm
Sun 11am -5pm
Closed Mondays
Adult £9*, Child £3.50
Student £5.50*, Family £21.50*
*includes voluntary donation