Dubuffet, Jean, Personnage au costume rouge, 1961

1961

Original lithograph in 7 colors on Arches

65 x 48 cm

Annotated artist's proof III/V lower left, signed and dated J. Dubuffet 61 by the artist in pencil lower right

Le Personnage au costume rouge, an assemblage transfer lithograph, depicts a clown with coarse, clumsy features. The work looks sloppy: the red overflows the outlines, like a child who has colored incorrectly, and the lithograph seems to have been carelessly splattered with paint. All these efforts to make the viewer’s eye believe that the work is sloppy (and wrongly so) reflect Jean Dubuffet’s artistic project, based on the rejection of cultural values.

“True art is always where you least expect it. Where no one thinks of it or speaks its name. Art hates to be recognized and greeted by its name, and immediately runs away, L’Homme du commun à l’ouvrage.