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Beard Garden

1959
Not on view
A champion of what he called "Art Brut," or "raw art," Dubuffet sought liberation from conventional fine art techniques through the adoption of a rough-hewn, untutored style and the use of unconventional materials. The artist experimented with various surface textures to create the masses of hair that dominate his fantastical, humorous Beard series of 1959, which was inspired by a friend’s likening of Dubuffet to a Stoic or sage. For Beard Garden, the artist tore and reassembled printed paper to fashion an animated expanse of tangled hair that is in lively contrast with its impassive bearer.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Beard Garden
  • Artist: Jean Dubuffet (French, Le Havre 1901–1985 Paris)
  • Date: 1959
  • Medium: Torn and pasted papers and matte black paint on paper
  • Dimensions: 20 1/8 × 13 3/8 in. (51.1 × 34 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection, 2002
  • Object Number: 2002.456.29
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

More Artwork
Blood (Le Sang) from the portfolio Continuation of Inventory (Suite d'inventaire) from Phenomena (Les Phénomènes), Jean Dubuffet French, Lithograph
Blood (Le Sang) from the portfolio Continuation of Inventory (Suite d'inventaire) from Phenomena (Les Phénomènes)
Jean Dubuffet
Printer Jean Dubuffet
Publisher Jean Dubuffet
1958
Saint Peter's Seen From the Pincio, Rome, Henri-Joseph Harpignies French, Pen and black ink, brush, gray and blue-gray washes
Saint Peter's Seen From the Pincio, Rome
Henri-Joseph Harpignies
1856
Seventeen Ornamental Designs for the Pless House or Chateau, Jules-Edmond-Charles Lachaise French, Graphite, pen and ink, wash, and watercolor on tracing and laid papers glued to paper board
Seventeen Ornamental Designs for the Pless House or Chateau
Jules-Edmond-Charles Lachaise
Eugène-Pierre Gourdet
second half 19th century
Jean Paulhan, Jean Dubuffet French, Acrylic and oil on Masonite
Jean Paulhan
Jean Dubuffet
1946
Glass Horn, Glass, French
Glass Horn
French
19th century

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