Jean Dubuffet

Dispositif aux vaisselles [Dishwasher]

About this artwork

Between 1962 and 1974 Dubuffet worked on an important series he called ‘l’Hourloupe’, to which this work belongs. ‘Hourloupe’ is an invented word which Dubuffet said, “calls to mind some object or personage of fairytale-like and grotesque state”. Verging on abstraction - a figure can just be made out on the left side, holding a brush and facing a bottle – ‘Dishwasher’ is composed of interlocking, jigsaw-like shapes. The series began as ball-point pen doodles and display what Dubuffet described as his “meandering, uninterrupted and resolutely uniform line, which brings all planes to the surface”. The ‘l’Hourloupe' series greatly influenced Dubuffet’s painted sculptures and culminated in ‘Coucou Bazar (Bal de l’Hourloupe)’ - a performance piece first staged in 1973.

Updated before 2020

  • artist:
    Jean Dubuffet (1901 - 1985) French
  • title:
    Dispositif aux vaisselles [Dishwasher]
  • date created:
    Dated 1965
  • materials:
    Vinyl on paper laid on canvas
  • measurements:
    99.50 x 69.00 cm; Framed: 124.20 x 92.60 x 9.00 cm
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Purchased 1980
  • accession number:
    GMA 2151
  • gallery:
  • glossary:
  • artwork photographed by:
    Antonia Reeve
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Jean Dubuffet

Jean Dubuffet