LAUSANNE.- This exhibition presents the first study of the photographic collection kept at the Dubuffet Foundation, in relation to the artist’s work (paintings, sculptures or elements of the Coucou Bazar show).

From the beginning of his artistic activity in the 1940s, Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985) invented a system of photographic referencing and, from 1959, he undertook to organize a secretariat responsible, among other things, for documenting all his works scattered throughout the world, with a view to constituting a catalogue raisonné which would be published in the form of fascicles between 1964 and 1991.

This collection of several thousand phototypes (negatives, prints, albums) is part of the artist’s ambition to constitute an exhaustive documentary collection of his work, both in the service of his current work and its controlled distribution. It reveals Dubuffet’s attention to the quality of photographic reproductions and the technical progress of the medium. If this organization stems from its conviction that the work can only be understood in its entirety, it is also motivated by the need to establish “a map of the road travelled and to see the picture of the places visited“.

Photography is also among the many tools used by the artist to create his works. Iconographic source for some series, its multiple character also allows the reproduction of the same elements and their use in different works. For his exhibition Edifices in 1968, he presents photomontages integrating his architectural creations into the public space. Photographic projection has been used since the 1970s as an enlarging process for the production of elements such as the stage elements of his show Coucou Bazar. Finally, the retrospective exhibition organized by Fiat in Turin in 1978, innovates through a spectacular staging combining original works and luminous projections of other paintings, completed by a multi projection dedicated to his major work, the Closerie Falbala.

The exhibition is co-produced by the Dubuffet Foundation, the Elysée Museum and the Rencontres d’Arles, with the participation of the Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne. It benefits from the precious support of PKB Privatbank, privileged partner of the museum.

Publication
The catalogue Jean Dubuffet. The photographic tool, published by Editions Photosynthèses, accompanies the exhibition.

“I believe that this is capitally what I expect from a work of art: that moving direct imprint that it can deliver of thought and life. Some kind of photogram.“ Jean Dubuffet, 1962

Jean Dubuffet distinguishes himself by the importance he gives to documenting his work and his creative process, from his "Journaux des travaux", in which he transcribes the techniques used for each work, to the many texts he writes about his work and his approach to art. Photography holds a predominant place in this archive, and particularly in the exhaustive inventory of his works, each subject of which is illustrated by a black and white photographic print. Dubuffet also gathers all the documents related to its current events (exhibition views and press clippings devoted to it).

Although the artist has little interest in photography as a form of expression, he is well aware of its importance as a means of disseminating, or even promoting, his work (from his correspondence to his publications). It pays a great deal of attention to this and thus devotes a large budget to these operations. The study of the archives reveals other uses of photography closely related to his work. Throughout his career, Dubuffet continued to experiment with new materials and tools, and temporarily invested several photographic processes and techniques, from the Vérascope, through photomontage to projection.

Excerpt from the text Jean Dubuffet. The photographic tool by Anne Lacoste and Sophie Webel in the eponymous catalogue published by Editions Photosynthèses, p. 17.