Jean DUBUFFET - "Algebra of Hourloupe: 52 extrapolatory figures", 1968, Playing cards

Jean Dubuffet : (1901-1985), a French painter and sculptor, was a mjor artist of the 20th century. He is the inventor of a style he himself coined "Art Brut" (Literally Raw Art, known as Outsider Art in English), and which is today one of the most scrutinised by collectors. He is certainly one of the most famous French artist of his generation, in France and abroad. Originally from Le Havre, Jean Dubuffet studied at the Fine Art academy of his hometown, which also welcomed Georges Braque, Othon Friesz or Raoul Dufy. He then studied at the Jullian Academy in Paris, before he settled in his own studio, in order to prevent academism for conformism from restraining his creative ideas. He looked for his path for several years, travelling, studying literature, music and languages, and alternating with some time in managing a small business, he finally decided to dedicate himself fully to painting in the 1940's. As a self-taught man, and encouraged by his endless curiosity, he started getting interrested in "non cultural" Art, such as art made by mentally ill people or untrained artists, and he found in them a new way of expression, he let appear through his own "deconditioning". His first personal exhibition took place at the René Drouin gallery in Paris in 1944, and was followed by numerous exhibitiions around the world, which scandalised at the sime time as they fascinated the public... He settled in New York in the early 1950's, where his works inspired new generations of artists. Dubuffet was constantly developping new ways of expressing himself with the pictural matter, in such a way that people see in himself a "second Picasso". From 1966, Dubuffet really started to make works in volume, and received numerous private and public orders from France to the United-States, where stand several of his monumental sculptures, in New York or in Philadelphia. Dubuffet was the first theoretician of "Art Brut", and its biggest collector. Many Art movement drew inspiration from his work. The Outsider art movement, very trendy today, could really have its roots in Dubuffet... His works are conserved in a lot of public institutions and museums in France and in Europe, but also and particularly in USA (Moma, Guggenheim, MET, Washington National Gallery…), where his mark is still very much present.

Beyeler Foundation (Switzerland)
Hara Museum of Contemporary Art (Japan)
Walker Art Center (The USA)
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (The USA)
MacVal (France)
FRAC Auvergne (France)
Kunstmuseum Basel (Switzerland)
FRAC Poitou-Charente (France)
FRAC Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (France)
The Bridgestone Museum of art Ishibashi Foundation (Japan)
FRAC Alsace (France)
Museo Tamayo (México)
Nantes Fine Arts Museum (France)
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum (The USA)
Columbus museum of art (The USA)
Northumbria University Gallery & Baring Wing (United Kingdom)
Cantini Museum (France)
The Renault collection (France)
Peyrassol Sculpture Park (France)
Deutsche Bank Art Collection (Germany)
Museum Abteiberg (Germany)
The José Manuel Rodrigues Berardo Collection (Portugal)
Langen Foundation (Germany)
The Slaughterhouses - FRAC Midi Pyrénées (France)
Fukuoka Art Museum (Japan)
MAC Lyon (Museum of Contemporary Art) (France)
Kröller-Müller Museum (Netherlands)
Akron Art Museum (The USA)
Queensland art Gallery (Australia)
Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) (The USA)
City of Chicago Public Art Collection (The USA)
San Diego Museum of art (The USA)
FRAC Picardie (France)
Hamburger Kunsthalle (Germany)
Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection (Germany)
The Indianapolis Museum of Art (The USA)
Carnegie Museum of art (The USA)
André and Bona Pieyre collection from Mandiargues
The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Denmark)
Städelmuseum (Germany)
National Gallery of Art, Washington (The USA)
MAMbo (Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Bologna) (Italy)
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MACBA) Barcelona (Spain)
National Galleries of Scotland (United Kingdom)
The National Museum of Art, Osaka (Japan)
Center Pompidou - National Museum of Modern Art (France)
Sindika Dokolo Foundation (Angola)
MIT List Visual arts Center (The USA)
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS) (Spain)
Horsens Kunstmuseum (Denmark)
Palm Springs Art Museum (The USA)
Raymond & Patsy Nasher Collection (The USA)
Israel Museum (Israel)
Picardy Museum (France)
MNBA - Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes - Argentina (Argentina)
Artothèque of Brest (France)
Phoenix Art Museum (The USA)
Henie Onstad Museum (Norway)
Lyon Museum of Fine Arts (France)
Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Italy)
Magnin Museum (France)
LEEUM Samsung Museum of art (South Korea)
Decorative Arts Museum, Paris (France)
Cour d'Or Museum - Metz (France)
Sara Hildén Art Museum (Finland)
National Museum of Western Art & Matsukata Collection (Japan)
Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe (Germany)
Unterlinden Museum (France)
The University of Oklahoma Museum of Art (The USA)
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art, New York (The USA)
Museum Joanneum - Graz (Austria)
Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College (The USA)
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (The USA)
Malraux Museum (France)
Tate Collection (United Kingdom)
Collezione Barilla (Italy)
Dubuffet Foundation (France)
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (Germany)
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art (The USA)
The Art Institute of Chicago (The USA)
Des Moines Art Center (The USA)
The Hakone Open-Air Museum (Japan)
New Orleans Museum of Art (The USA)
Caen Museum of Fine Arts (France)
Philbrook Museum of Art (The USA)
The Modern Museum in Sweden - Moderna Museet (Sweden)
Pizzuti Collection (The USA)
Ohara Museum of Art (Japan)
Sainte-Croix Abbey Museum (France)
Eli ans Edythe Broad Art Museum (The USA)
Calais Fine Arts Museum (France)
Gandur Foundation for Art (Switzerland)
Museo Botero (Colombia)
Rolin Museum (France)
The Kreeger Museum (The USA)
Artothèque, Nantes (France)
Center for Engraving and Printed Image (Belgium)