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Lot Essay
"I have liked to carry the human image onto a plane of seriousness where the futile embellishments of aesthetics have no longer any place, onto a plane of high ceremony, of solemn office of celebration by helping myself to what Joseph Conrad call, 'a mixture of familiarity and terror' out of which the devotion is made in which many religious minds offer to their gods and which does not, at times, exclude the use of swear words directed at them." (Jean Dubuffet, quoted in: Exh. cat., New York, Museum of Modern Art, The New Decade, May-August 1955)
Les yeux gris is a striking work that grew out of Dubuffet's experiments for his series of 'Topographies' of 1957. Using an oil paint thinned almost to the point of transparency with turpentine, Dubuffet often created a unique texture in his paintings by applying sheets of newspaper to the wet paint and then leaving the resultant patterns created by the partial absorption of the paint to dry. In his 'Topographies' of 1957, he developed this technique further by using blank drawing paper and a rag which absorbed more paint and left a lighter impression. Out of the resultant patterns, Dubuffet would perceive the shape and character of the figure he intended to paint.
In Les yeux gris, Dubuffet makes use of both techniques, contrasting the dark impressions with those scrubbed by a rag that constitute the figure's shadow-like body. In many areas, the newspaper impressions are still perceivable on the thinly covered canvas and the overall effect is that it lends a universal evenness of texture to both light and dark areas. This helps to support the impression that the central figure is emerging out of the materials like a spectre.
Dubuffet has highlighted the figure's outline merely by scraping an edge with the wooden end of a paintbrush and roughly delineated its features with a fluid painted line that brings the mysterious creature to life. It is only the grey eyes of the figure where Dubuffet has painted with a brush, the image is otherwise left untouched, endowed with a human presence but still very much embodying the spirit of the material from which it has been made.
Les yeux gris is a striking work that grew out of Dubuffet's experiments for his series of 'Topographies' of 1957. Using an oil paint thinned almost to the point of transparency with turpentine, Dubuffet often created a unique texture in his paintings by applying sheets of newspaper to the wet paint and then leaving the resultant patterns created by the partial absorption of the paint to dry. In his 'Topographies' of 1957, he developed this technique further by using blank drawing paper and a rag which absorbed more paint and left a lighter impression. Out of the resultant patterns, Dubuffet would perceive the shape and character of the figure he intended to paint.
In Les yeux gris, Dubuffet makes use of both techniques, contrasting the dark impressions with those scrubbed by a rag that constitute the figure's shadow-like body. In many areas, the newspaper impressions are still perceivable on the thinly covered canvas and the overall effect is that it lends a universal evenness of texture to both light and dark areas. This helps to support the impression that the central figure is emerging out of the materials like a spectre.
Dubuffet has highlighted the figure's outline merely by scraping an edge with the wooden end of a paintbrush and roughly delineated its features with a fluid painted line that brings the mysterious creature to life. It is only the grey eyes of the figure where Dubuffet has painted with a brush, the image is otherwise left untouched, endowed with a human presence but still very much embodying the spirit of the material from which it has been made.