Bum aux bras levés is one of many works on paper executed by JD (Jean Dubuffet) during his first visit to New York which took place from November 1951 to April 1952. Accompanied by his wife Lili the artist registered at the Hotel 1 Fifth Avenue and shortly rented a studio in Greenwich Village within walking distance from the Bowery, one of Manhattan's less presentable quarters where, to the present day, the poor and the homeless lounge in the streets, seeking alcoholic and drugged relief from their misery. Fascinated by the "bums" as these unfortunate types are called, D (Dubuffet) did not lose any time lavishing upon them his creative attentions in a series of paintings, drawings and gouaches that brought out their characteristic traits, with as little sentimentality as they mustered themselves.
Alfonso Ossorio