Chic Temps
Jean Dubuffet (1901 - 1985)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1955
Materials
Oil on canvas in a wooden frame
Measurements
595 x 725 mm
Place of origin
France
Order this imageCollection
Dudmaston, Shropshire
NT 814225
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Chic Temps by Jean Dubuffet (Le Havre 1901 – Paris 1985), 1955. A picture with a curiously magical content, from a series of paintings of a dreamlike countryside. Thin washes of paint scratched by an instrument to create image. Sir George Labouchere found this painting, ‘magical, amusing and witty.’ It is a semi-figurative work of roughly applied paint which has been smeared and smudged and incised with the outlines of buildings and chimneys. The childlike drawings of the sun and the amusing figure in the left foreground remind us of childhood scribblings. They draw on our collective memory and imagination. There is no suggestion of perspective and the colour range is limited to browns and dark purples in the sky. It has a look of something which has evolved geologically, the aged face of the earth. Dubuffet wanted to capture, “things as seen by a completely average and ordinary man” in his pictures.
Provenance
With Arthur Tooth and Sons Ltd, 31 Bruton Street, London. (label pasted on reverse). Sir George Labouchere collection.
Credit line
The Sir George Labouchere Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
A purple stamp to canvas.
Makers and roles
Jean Dubuffet (1901 - 1985), artist