L’Hourloupe
‘Hourloupe’ is an invented word that echoes the French
entourloupe (to play a kind of trick) as well as hurler (to roar),
hululer (to hoot) and loup (a male wolf). Dubuffet liked the animal associations, describing his word as sounding like ‘some wonderland or grotesque object or creature’. He used it for a new cycle of works that he had begun quite by accident while doodling on the telephone in July 1962. Using a four-colour ballpoint pen, he had made a series of fluid shapes and figures, which he embellished with blue and red stripes before cutting them out and placing them against a black background. These initial drawings became the gateway to an all-consuming series of paintings, sculptures, environments and performances that would occupy him for more than 12 years.
[Barbican Centre]
Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty
(May - August 2021)
An exhibition celebrating French artist Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985), one of the most singular and provocative voices in postwar modern art.
Brutal Beauty champions Dubuffet’s rebellious philosophy. Railing against conventional ideas of beauty, he tried to capture the poetry of everyday life in a gritty, more authentic way. This is the first major survey of his work in the UK for 50 years, showcasing four decades of his career, from early portraits and fantastical statues, to butterfly assemblages and giant colourful canvases. Dubuffet endlessly experimented and was clear on his purpose:
‘Art should always make you laugh a little and fear a little. Anything but bore’.
Alongside his own work, the exhibition features works from his collection of Art Brut (a phrase he coined, which translates as ‘raw art’). Acquired throughout his life, these works, and the artists that created them, profoundly impacted his approach to the making and meaning of art.
[Barbican Centre]
Taken in the Barbican Centre
L’Hourloupe
‘Hourloupe’ is an invented word that echoes the French
entourloupe (to play a kind of trick) as well as hurler (to roar),
hululer (to hoot) and loup (a male wolf). Dubuffet liked the animal associations, describing his word as sounding like ‘some wonderland or grotesque object or creature’. He used it for a new cycle of works that he had begun quite by accident while doodling on the telephone in July 1962. Using a four-colour ballpoint pen, he had made a series of fluid shapes and figures, which he embellished with blue and red stripes before cutting them out and placing them against a black background. These initial drawings became the gateway to an all-consuming series of paintings, sculptures, environments and performances that would occupy him for more than 12 years.
[Barbican Centre]
Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty
(May - August 2021)
An exhibition celebrating French artist Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985), one of the most singular and provocative voices in postwar modern art.
Brutal Beauty champions Dubuffet’s rebellious philosophy. Railing against conventional ideas of beauty, he tried to capture the poetry of everyday life in a gritty, more authentic way. This is the first major survey of his work in the UK for 50 years, showcasing four decades of his career, from early portraits and fantastical statues, to butterfly assemblages and giant colourful canvases. Dubuffet endlessly experimented and was clear on his purpose:
‘Art should always make you laugh a little and fear a little. Anything but bore’.
Alongside his own work, the exhibition features works from his collection of Art Brut (a phrase he coined, which translates as ‘raw art’). Acquired throughout his life, these works, and the artists that created them, profoundly impacted his approach to the making and meaning of art.
[Barbican Centre]
Taken in the Barbican Centre