Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985) is one of those figures who can't be easily pigeonholed into a category, but could be considered an artist, painter, sculptor, sound, music and costume designer, and choreographer. Dubuffet also coined in 1945 the term "art brut" ("raw art" often referred to as "outsider art") to indicate the work of untrained artists, patients in psychiatric hospitals, prisoners, and fringe-dwellers.
Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris, in collaboration with the Fondation Dubuffet, is launching an exhibition in October that will make many Dubuffet fans rejoyce. "Jean Dubuffet. Coucou Bazar" pays a tribute to the artist while celebrating the 40th anniversary of his iconic animated painting created in the '70s.
"Coucou Bazar" was performed for the first time in New York from May to July 1973 at the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum. A second version was produced in the following September as part of the Festival d'Automne de Paris to accompany the retrospective in the Galeries Nationales de Grand Palais. In both these versions music was composed by Turkish musician Ilhan Mimaroglu.
A third version was organised by FIAT to be performed in Turin in 1978 and this time various recordings and musical experiments by Dubuffet himself were employed as its soundtrack.
The animated painting is the grand conclusion of Dubuffet's Hourloupe cycle. The Hourloupe decorations started with doodling with red, black and blue ball-point pens, and at times, rather than just abstract forms, they look more like extremely modern urban graffiti.
These configurations were employed for the set and setting - defined by Dubuffet as the "practicables" - and for the costumes as well. The practicables were made from panels of klégécell (a sort of wood), layered in resin and painted with a coat of vinyl acrylic. Some practicables were mounted on wheels or animated by machinery, others were operated by hand.
The costumes worn by the actors included masks, hats, robes, gloves and boots made in diverse materials - from painted rayon and cotton to epoxy resin, latex, and starched tarlatan.
As the dancers moved, they gave life to the painting, creating infinite series of combinations and trasforming the painting from a static representation into a real and movable landscape. Viewers therefore became part of this parallel fantasy, of this strange wonderland populated by surreal objects and creatures.
The event at Les Arts Décoratifs will bring back the show on stage thanks to costumed dancers performing the animated painting. Dubuffet has a special connection with the Musée des Arts Décoratifs since he made to the museum an outstanding donation from his collection in 1967 before creating his own foundation in 1973.
All the costumes and the practicables are usually preserved at the Jean Dubuffet Foundation in Périgny-Sur-Yerres, so "Coucou Bazar" at Les Arts Décoratifs will be a unique and unmissable chance to see once again the animated painting coming back to life in Paris.
"Jean Dubuffet. Coucou Bazar", 24th October - 1st December 2013, Les Arts Décoratifs, 107 rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, France.
Image credits
All images in this post courtesy of Les Arts Décoratifs.
1. Dress rehearsals at the Grand Palais, Paris, 1973 © Archives Dubuffet Foundation in Paris/Photograph by K.Wyss
2. Le Grand Malotru, 1973 © Fondation Dubuffet/ADAGP Paris
3. Poster by Jean Dubuffet for Coucou Bazar in Turin, 1978 © Fondation Dubuffet/ADAGP, Paris
4. Costume for Le Triomphateur © Fondation Dubuffet/ADAGP, Paris
5. Performance of Coucou Bazar, Turin, 1978 © Archives Fondation Dubuffet, Paris/Photograph by K.Wyss
6. Jean Dubuffet, Deuxième robe de ville, 1973, donated in 2006 by Margit Rowell, Collection Les Arts Décoratifs © Les Arts Décoratifs/Jean Tholance
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and PhotosMember of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Comments