Skip to Content

The Arts Intel Report

Jean Dubuffet: The Hourloupe Cycle

Jean Dubuffet, Offres galantes, 1967.

540 W 25th St, New York, NY 10001, United States

Bored by the traditional fine art of 20th-century Europe, Jean Dubuffet invented the term art brut (raw art) to describe what he considered true expression—non-academic creativity such as graffiti and the work of savants who were incarcerated or institutionalized. It was only after a successful career as a wine merchant that Dubuffet embarked on his experimental, multi-media practice. He infused paint with gravel and incorporated materials such as orange peels and aluminum foil. Pace Gallery is now presenting a major exhibition in honor of the Dubuffet Foundation’s 50th anniversary. The show is anchored by Nunc Stans (1965), a 26-foot mural from Dubuffet’s “Hourloupe” series. It features forms he used throughout the 1960s and early 70s—interlocking shapes that feel like infinity. —Lucy Horowitz

© Jean Dubuffet / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York