ID 832073
Lot 10 | Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985)
Estimate value
€ 300 000 – 500 000
Barbe de la sentence inique
signé et daté 'J. Dubuffet 59' (en haut à droite); daté et inscrit '"Barbe de la sentence inique" juin 59' (au revers)
assemblage d’empreintes et encre de Chine sur papier
51 x 33.5 cm.
Exécuté en 1959
signed and dated 'J. Dubuffet 1959' (upper right); dated and inscribed '"Barbe de la sentence inique" juin 59' (on the reverse)
prints assemblage and India ink on paper
20 7/8 x 13 1/2 in.
Executed in 1959
Provenance
Galerie Daniel Cordier, Paris.
Claude Hersaint, Paris.
Hélène Anavi, Paulhiac (acquis en 1965).
Vente, Sotheby’s, New York, 27 mars 1984, lot 50.
Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York.
Acquis auprès de celle-ci par le propriétaire actuel, le 26 janvier 1987.
Literature
M. Loreau, Catalogue des travaux de Jean Dubuffet, As-tu cueilli la fleur de barbe, Fascicule XV, Paris, 1985, no. 53 (illustré, p. 36).
Special notice
Artist's Resale Right ("droit de Suite").
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Post lot text
« Il faut voir chez Cordier les Barbes de Dubuffet. Toutes ces barbes aux murs, comme des trophées de chasseur. Analytiques et synthétiques, mythiques, cosmiques, métaphysiques, taillées en buis, en espalier, en cor de chasse, en dictionnaire Larousse, en table de jardin, en Pyrénées centrales, parfois en escargots, en rond de serviette ou en marée montante, en cathédrale gothique et en poirier de plein vent ». - Alexandre Vialatte dans un article pour 'La Montagne', 3 mai 1960.
“You really must go see Dubuffet's Beards at the Cordier Gallery. All these beards on the walls, like hunter's trophies. Analytical and synthetic, mythical, cosmic, metaphysical, carved as boxwood, as espalier, as a hunting horn, a Larousse dictionary, a garden table, the central Pyrenées, sometimes as snails, as a napkin ring or the rising tide, a gothic cathedral or an open-air pear tree." - Alexandre Vialatte in an article for 'La Montagne', 3 May 1960.
En mai 1959, Jean Dubuffet est à Vence lorsqu’il reçoit une lettre de Georges Limbour, poète et ami de l'artiste, accompagnée d’un article sur les Texturologies, dernière série réalisée par le peintre. Le papier érige Dubuffet en stoïcien de l’Antiquité. Flatté, amusé autant que moqueur, Dubuffet envoie pour réponse un dessin caricatural au stylo d’une tête barbue portant l’inscription « Marcus Aurelius ». Ravi de cet échange épistolaire, Limbour l’encourage à dessiner et à peindre d’autres de ces cocasses personnages « barbus ». La plaisanterie devient dès lors un sujet d’étude sérieux. Il envoie à Limbour deux nouveaux dessins de l’empereur, dans lesquels la barbe envahit tout l’espace, réduisant les yeux à deux petits cercles et le nez à un trait. De cette correspondance naît la série prolifique Barbes qui va absorber Dubuffet de mai à décembre 1959.
Les Barbes s'inscrivent dans l’évolution des Texturologies. L’artiste y propose alors un tournant à ses recherches autour des sols, des minéraux et des végétaux qui l'occupent au cours des années 1950 : à présent une partie du corps humain - en l'occurrence cette forêt de poils sous le menton - est traitée à la façon d'un paysage. Ces corps deviennent des formes anthropomorphiques qui, non seulement prolongent les recherches de l’artiste sur la représentation de la figure humaine, mais ils l’affranchissent des canons classiques du beau et du laid, tout comme de la tradition occidentale du portrait. Alors que les traits du visage sont tout juste définis par des collages en papier, la barbe monumentale semble frémir et affiche un motif riche, constitué d’empreintes à l’encre, évoquant la texture du sol ou de la terre.
En réintroduisant l'homme au cœur du travail de l'artiste, les Barbes annoncent la série de Paris Circus qui surgira au tournant des années 1960, et constituent en ce sens une figure fondamentale dans l'œuvre de Dubuffet.
In May 1959, Jean Dubuffet was in Vence when he received a letter from Georges Limbour, poet and friend of the artist, accompanied by an article on Texturologies, the last series produced by the painter. The article referred to Dubuffet as a Stoic of the Antiquity. Flattered, amused as much as mocking, Dubuffet sends for answer a caricature drawing with a pen of a bearded head bearing the inscription “Marcus Aurelius.” Delighted by this epistolary exchange, Limbour encourages him to draw and paint more of these comical “bearded” characters. From then on, jokes became a serious subject of study. He sends Limbour two new drawings of the emperor, in which the beard invades all the space, reducing the eyes to two small circles and the nose to just a line. From this correspondence was born the prolific Beards series that absorbed Dubuffet from May to December 1959.
The Beards series is part of the evolution of Texturologies. The artist then makes a turning point in his research on soil, minerals and plants, which had occupied him during the 1950s: now a part of the human body —in this case this forest of hair under the chin— was treated in the manner of a landscape. Bodies become anthropomorphic forms that not only continue the artist's research on the representation of the human figure, but also free him from the classical canons of beauty and ugliness, as well as from the Western tradition of portraiture. While the facial features are barely defined by paper collages, the monumental beard seems to quiver and displays a rich pattern of ink prints, evoking the texture of soil or earth.
By reintroducing man into the heart of the artist's work, Beards foreshadow the Paris Circus series that would emerge at the turn of the 1960s, and in this sense constitute a fundamental figure in Dubuffet's work.
Artist: | Jean Dubuffet (1901 - 1985) |
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Art style: | Post War Art |
Place of origin: | Western Europe, France, Europe |
Auction house category: | Paintings |
Artist: | Jean Dubuffet (1901 - 1985) |
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Art style: | Post War Art |
Place of origin: | Western Europe, France, Europe |
Auction house category: | Paintings |
Address of auction |
CHRISTIE'S 8 King Street, St. James's SW1Y 6QT London United Kingdom | |
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Preview |
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Phone | +44 (0)20 7839 9060 | |
Buyer Premium | see on Website | |
Conditions of purchase | Conditions of purchase |
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