Provenance:
R.A. Augustinci, Paris, by 1956
Stephen Hahn Gallery, New York

Exhibited:
Paris, Galerie Rive Gauche, May 15 - June 6, 1956, R.A. Augustinci présente vingt-six assemblages d'empreintes (1954-1955) de Jean Dubuffet, no. 25
 
Literature:
Max Loreau, Catalogue des travaux de Jean Dubuffet, fascicule XI, Charettes, jardins, personnages monolithes, Geneva, 1969, pp. 40; 134-135, no. 35, illus.

Lot Note:
In January 1955, Jean Dubuffet and his wife Lili moved for her health to Vence, a region in southwestern France, just north of Nice. The migration marked a turning point in the artist’s career, inaugurating a long period of new work, inspired by the countryside that surrounded him. Upon arrival to his new locale, Dubuffet looked for a studio but could not find one large enough to accommodate the multiple tasks he liked to carry out simultaneously. Eventually finding a small studio, the artist was compelled to turn to prints and related assembly works, as these mediums did not require as much space. As a result, beginning in February 1955, Dubuffet began a series of assemblages of Indian ink prints. 

The artist had previously created similar manipulations of this type in 1953 but abandoned them in April 1954. This first series of assembled prints was made in October of that year, to create postcards that Dubuffet wanted to send to friends at Christmas. The postcards themselves were inspired by his use of butterfly wings to create ethereal collages in August 1953. As butterfly wings proved to be an impractical medium, Dubuffet’s solution was to cut out and assemble sheets of stained paper, but the visible seams bothered him. The artist then conceived the idea of ​​making lithographs that would eliminate all traces of collages and have the appearance of stains made in one go. He eventually developed a technique that used a pane of glass or a sheet of rhodoid (a type of rigid PVC sheet with a very smooth surface, typically used to give chocolate a very glossy finish by pastry chefs), which he smeared with ink. The artist then applied ordinary paper that adhered to the glass or rhodoid in varied ways; sometimes applying the paper two or three times. Dubuffet would also occasionally throw bits of thread and dust and sprinkle sugar or semolina onto the ink before passing his hands over the applied paper, often doing this in multiple passes. The paper was then ready to be cut out and combined in multiple iterations. Dubuffet could thus make a reserve of imprints in this way, from which to draw when creating his assemblages.  

Pied du Mur au sol jonché (translated roughly as Foot of the Wall on the littered ground), executed in July 1955, is one such assemblage from his second series. The artist was fascinated by the dry stone walls seen throughout Vence. He drew them frequently but was also intrigued by the foot of these walls and “the miserable and charming little botanical world enveloping the edge of the road among the small stones and mingling with the deterioration of the poorly maintained roadway.” (quoted in Max Loreau, Catalogue des travaux de Jean Dubuffet, fascicule XI, Charettes, jardins, personnages monolithes, Geneva, 1969, p. 128) What drew Dubuffet was not the inert beauty of objects in their natural environment but instead the simple experiences and objects that humans have and interact with on a daily basis. In the present work, ink and print are inseparably collaged to somehow deliver a representation of what cannot be represented. These fluctuations mimic and prepare the agitation of men and forms and recapture them simultaneously. Insatiably curious, Dubuffet’s exploration with unorthodox materials and techniques instills in Pied du Mur au sol jonché a vibrant sense of adventure that remains relevant to this day.