The history of art, it's true, is always divided into two currents that are the mark of two opposing and irreconcilable temperaments. On the one hand, what I would call architects, and on the other, magicians. Michel Ragon, L'Architecte et le magicien, 1951, Éditions Rougerie
For this third exhibition at the Musée du Niel, we propose : Dubuffet and the Magicians. Singular Expressions 1945-2000. Jean Dubuffet's artistic contribution and impact at the finish of the Second World War were considerable. He “invented” Art Brut and gave this hitherto ignored or neglected form of singular expression a wide exposure for the first time, while himself developing a totally original way of painting. At a time when abstraction was establishing its mastery over painting in France, at a time when figuration was resisting and asserting its traditional strengths, Dubuffet showed that there is an art that defies the official canons, that ignores the usual filières of established culture, he invented a new source of inspiration, a new way of painting outside the major currents of art and a revolutionary doctrine that shakes up certainties. He innovated, destabilized and opened up new perspectives. He opened the way for magic and magicians.
At the same time, between 1949 and 1951, the CoBrA movement from Northern Europe also definized a very particular space, extracted itself from abstraction, primitivized its expression, sometimes bringing it closer to children's drawing, and created a unique universe, distinct from the main currents.
A few years later, at the turn of the 50s, Michel Tapié, a friend of Jean Dubuffet, gallery owner, critic and figure of the art market, theorized the concept of “art autre” and emphasized the need to place oneself in another artistic dimension, as if in a parallel world, drawing on diverse, subjective and informal sources of inspiration.
From these three independent initiatives, with no apparent coordination, no group or movement, emerge unconventional artists, true individualities, and singular and diverse expressions that will mark the second half of the twentieth century with their magic, original, even unique, often unexpected, paradoxical, sometimes disturbing, in a constant creative effervescence that outlines the future evolutions of contemporary art. This is a subjective selection, not intended to be exhaustive, which reflète the enthusiasms of the Musée du Niel collection.
