menu
ArchiveExhibition

Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beuty

17 May-22 Aug 2021

Barbican Art Gallery
London EC2Y 8DS

Overview

GALLERIES TEMPORARILY CLOSED - see website for online programming and updates. An exhibition celebrating Jean Dubuffet, one of the most powerful and provocative voices in the post-war avant-garde. Spanning more than four decades in the studio, this exhibition brings together powerful work by the French artist Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985). This show is the first in the UK in more than 50 years, highlighting Dubuffet’s radicalism as he experimented with materials and aimed to create what he described as: ‘an art that is directly plugged into our current life, that immediately emanates from our real life and our real moods.’ Dubuffet was one of the first to champion ‘Art Brut’ – a phrase he coined, which literally translates as ‘raw art’. The exhibition explores his lifelong pursuit of authentic expression, featuring rarely exhibited pieces from international museums and private collections.