Jean Dubuffet

E.J. Power, London
Waddington Galleries Ltd., London
Private Collection, Dallas
Waddington Galleries Ltd., London
Sale: Christie's, London, Post War and Contemporary Art, 27 June 2002, Lot 40
Waddington Galleries Ltd., London
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Paris, Galerie René Drouin, Exposition de Tableaux et Dessins de Jean Dubuffet, 1944, no. 52
Paris, Studio Paul Facchetti, Jean Dubuffet, 1958
London, Tate Gallery, Jean Dubuffet: Paintings, 1966, p. 21, no. 10, illustrated 
London, Waddington Galleries Ltd., Twentieth Century Works, 1988, p. 9, no. 3, illustrated in colour 
London, Waddington Galleries Ltd., Twentieth Century Works, 1989, p. 29, no. 12, illustrated in colour

Max Loreau, Catalogue des Travaux de Jean Dubuffet: Marionnettes de la Ville et de la Campagne, fascicule I, Paris 1966, p. 172, no. 323, illustrated

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate although the overall contrast is softer in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals one very thin vertical line and two horizontal lines of restoration towards the bottom right corner. There is a very small area of restoration approximately 20 cm below the top central figure, and two others towards the bottom left of upper left quadrant.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Realized in August 1944, Fragment Terraqué, Hommage à Guillevic was exhibited in October in Jean Dubuffet's first major exhibition at the Galerie René Drouin in Paris just a few months after the Liberation. Intimately evoking the tranquility of the fields and green countryside outside Paris with thick impasto, bravura brushwork and chromatic lushness, Dubuffet transformed this autumnal landscape into a lively, animated surface endowed with frank emotional impact. Dubuffet's rejection of imposing a central image to the composition is coherent with his constant research of child-like and innocent representation. In Fragment Terraqué, Hommage à Guillevic silhouettes of human and animal figures simply float in the terrain.
By dismissing perspective Dubuffet deliberately attempts to 'flatten' the composition following his desire to "animate a surface which is by definition two-dimensional and without depth...Let us seek...ingenious ways to flatten objects on the surface; and let the surface speak its own language and not an artificial language of three-dimensional space which is not proper to it ... I feel the need to leave the surface visibly flat." (Jean Dubuffet, Prospectus et Tous Écrits Suivants, Paris 1967, Vol. I, p. 74).

Dubuffet rediscovers a potent and unrestrained vision of the world, reaching child-like reduction and simplification of forms. "For what is more important is not reaching objects of reputed beauty after long days of travel, but learning that, without having to move an inch, no matter where you are, all that first seemed most sterile and mute is swarming with facts which can entrance you even more" (the artist in 1968 cited in: Herschel B. Chipp, et al., Theories of Modern Art: A Source Book by Artists and Critics, Berkeley 1968, p. 611).
By dedicating Fragment Terraqué to Eugène Guillevic, Dubuffet pays tribute to the suggestive simplicity of concrete life narrated by the highly influential Breton rural poet. In 1944 when the present work had been composed, Dubuffet had just illustrated Guillevic's elegies Les Murs with thirteen lithographs.