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Brutal Beauty

The celebration of the "poetry of everyday life" is a goal that will resonate with people across the world — many of whom are still confined to their locales more than a year since the Coronavirus first reared its head.

But as Londoners begin to emerge from isolation this spring, they'll soon have a chance to appreciate the poetry of everyday life in person, as a major new art exhibition in the Barbican prepares to open its doors later this season.

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It was the ambition of French painter and sculptor Jean Dubuffet to capture this real life grittiness and Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty will be the first public showing of his work in over 50 years. A retrospective of one of the most provocative voices in postwar modern art, Brutal Beauty portrays an artist who rebelled against conventional ideas of beauty, hoping to capture the poetry of everyday life in a more authentic way. 

Drawn from international public and private collections, Brutal Beauty brings together more than 150 works: from early portraits, lithographs and fantastical statues to enamel paintings, butterfly assemblages and giant colourful canvases. Spanning four decades in the studio, Brutal Beauty highlights Dubuffet’s endless experimentation with tools and materials, as he blended paint with shards of glass, coal dust, pebbles, slithers of string and gravel.


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Born in Le Havre, Dubuffet moved to Paris when he was 17 to study at the prestigious Académie Julian. He left after six months, realising that he could create his own syllabus of favourite subjects, which included philosophy, literature and ethnography. It was only at the age of 41, in the midst of the German Occupation of Paris, that he decided to devote himself wholeheartedly to being an artist.

Jane Alison, Head of Visual Arts, Barbican, said “Dubuffet marvelled at the fabric of everyday life — an alchemist experimenting with dust and dirt, conjuring visual gold. So many artists, from David Hockney to Eva Hesse, Robert Smithson and Jean-Michel Basquiat have been influenced by his playful spirit and experimental drive.”

Following government guidance, the Barbican is currently closed to the public. The rescheduled dates for Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty will be announced in due course.

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Barbican.org.uk