Jean Dubuffet (1901—1985) was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, best known for his development of art brut (“raw art”). After World War II, as one of the leading artists of the School of Paris, he developed the techniques and philosophy of art brut. Derived from Dubuffet’s studies of the art of children and of the mentally ill, art brut is intended to achieve immediacy and vitality of expression not found in self-conscious, academic art. His drawings and paintings are by turns childlike and obsessive, and their unfinished appearance excited much controversy.

​

Dubuffet enjoyed a prolific art career, both in France and in America, and was featured in many exhibitions throughout his lifetime. His works are held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.