Jean Dubuffet

Born 1901 · Died 1985

Quotes

“From the point of view of technique, I liked there to be internal lines in objects, I mean that instead of circumscribing forms, they animate the insides of things—the inside of formless and non-delimited areas. They function as internal textures and not primarily as contours.”
1960-70's, p. 47
“Art does not lie down on the bed that is made for it; it runs away as soon as one says its name; it loves to go incognito. Its best moments are when it forgets what it is called.”
posthumous
“Man's need for art is absolutely primordial, as strong as, and perhaps stronger than, our need for bread. Without bread, we die of hunger, but without art we die of boredom.”
Prospectus et tous écrits suivants, 1967, p. 14
“There is no such thing as abstract art, or else all art is abstract, which amounts to the same thing. Abstract art no more exists than does curved art yellow art or green art.”
Prospectus et tous écrits suivants, 1967, p. 206

Books by Jean Dubuffet in the order they were published, from Peintures Initiatiques d'Alfonso Ossorio (1951) to Plu Kifekler Mouinkon Nivoua (2005).