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Jean Dubuffet (French, 1901–1985)
LOT ID: 69589
Portrait de Fautrier, 1947

Ink, on paper
8.27 х 5.12 in. cm.
Signed, and dated on recto. 'Fautrier' inscribed on left recto.
Lot description
This rare ink drawing is a portrait of French Taschisme painter and sculptor Jean Fautrier. The amusing depiction of Fautrier is a study for the larger oil on canvas of the same title. It is classically Dubuffet in its humanistic approach and denial of traditional standards of beauty. The work is duly registered in the Catalogue des travaux de Jean Dubuffet, by Max Loreau; Volume III, page 93, entry 139.

Resisting an accepted aesthetic throughout his entire career, Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985) is considered one of the pioneers of the Art Brut movement. Born into a well-off family in Le Havre, France, Dubuffet left home at age 17 to study art in Paris. After completing his studies, he stopped painting and spent the next 20 years as a wine merchant, factory worker, and soldier. He returned to painting at the age of 41, spending the next 40 years working in various avant-garde styles and embracing obscure materials in his art.

While working in Paris, he befriended some of the most outspoken intellectuals of the day including the poet Henri Michaux and critic Jean Paulhan, both of whom were influential in his artistic self-discovery. In 1951 he delivered his famous lecture, "Anticultural Positions," in which he promoted the values of savagery and madness as a way of escaping from the false artistic values revered in Western society. Throughout the 1950s, he continued to experiment with raw materials in his art as a way of engaging the primitive values to which he sought to return. In 1962, Dubuffet developed his famous Hourloupe style and produced many of his most well known works, including several large sculptures. He continued to paint and draw as his health declined, working in Paris until his death in 1985.
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Portrait de Fautrier by Jean Dubuffet
  • Portrait de Fautrier by Jean Dubuffet
  • Portrait de Fautrier by Jean Dubuffet
  • Portrait de Fautrier by Jean Dubuffet
  • Portrait de Fautrier by Jean Dubuffet
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  • Jean Dubuffet

    Corps de dame
    ink on paper
    (H 8.3, W 10.6) in.
    (21 x 27) cm.
    Sold for: US$39,130
    Thursday, June 03, 2010
    Sotheby's Paris
    Lot 00110
  • Jean Dubuffet

    Portrait de Jean Paulhan
    ink
    (H 10, W 6.3) in.
    (25.4 x 15.9) cm.
    Sold for: US$43,750
    Wednesday, March 11, 2009
    Christie's New York
    Lot 00067
  • Jean Dubuffet

    Portrait de Jean Paulhan (Maast)
    ink
    (H 10.6, W 8.1) in.
    (27 x 20.6) cm.
    Sold for: US$50,955
    Tuesday, October 25, 2005
    Sotheby's London
    Lot 00219
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