Terres de Clarté (Clear Grounds)

Maker

(artist)
1901-1985

Title

Date of Production

1955

Medium

assemblage of imprints and black ink on paper

Dimensions

Height: 54.6 cm
Width: 60.9 cm

Accession Number

LD.2020.HK.6

Mode of Acquisition

Karshan Collection, long-term loan, 2020

Credit

Promised gift by Linda Karshan in memory of her husband, Howard Karshan. On long-term loan to The Courtauld Gallery, London

Copyright

Location

Not currently on display

Label Text

Soil and ‘things of the earth’ were recurrent features of Jean Dubuffet’s work. Here, the artist depicts an eerie otherworldly terrain, devoid of human presence, whose pebbly ground seems populated by strange fossils. To achieve this striking effect, Dubuffet pioneered his own variation on the collage technique: rather than use scraps of collected materials, he cut up his own hand-made prints and pasted them to create both the black sky and the ‘clear grounds’ below.

Provenance

Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, 1961; Mr and Mrs Alexander L. Berliner, New York, 1964; Hokin Gallery, Palm Beach [sticker on back of frame]; B.C. Holland Gallery, Chicago [2 stickers on back of frame]; John C. Stoller & Co., Minneapolis [sticker on frame]; Phillips, London, 29 June 1988, lot 65; bought in; auction house, Versailles; 1990; anonymous sale, Sotheby's, London, 18 October 1990, lot 5 [catalogue page in file]; purchased there post sale by Howard Karshan (1933-2017); Promised gift by Linda Karshan in memory of her husband, Howard Karshan. On long-term loan to The Courtauld Gallery, London. (The above information supplied by the Dubuffet Foundation).

Exhibition History

Modern Drawings: The Karshan Gift, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 19/11/2021-09/01/2022

6 Artists in 3 Forms - part II, November 1986, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, 01/11/1986-01/11/1986

Exhibition of Paintings and Assemblages d'Empreintes exectued in 1954-1955 by Jean Dubuffet, Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, 21/02/1956-17/03/1956

Literature

Modern Drawings: The Karshan Gift, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 20 Nov. 2021 - 9 Jan. 2022
cat. no. 9
Fig. p. p. 69

Loreau, M., Catalogue des travaux de Jean Dubuffet fascicule XI: Charrettes, jardins, personnages monoliths, Paris 1969
no. 20
Fig. p. repr.

Collège de 'Pataphysique, Cahiers du Collège de 'Pataphysique: Dossiers 10 & 11, Paris 1960
p. 92
Fig. p. repr.

Inscriptions

Inscription: Recto: lower right edge, black ink, signed and dated: “J. Dubuffet / 55”. Verso: upper centre, black ink: “Terres de clarté / clarté Vence Mars 1955 / mars / 1955”.

Label: Frame, Verso: only visible from a photograph in the object file: labels from B.C. Holland, Stoller & Co., Grosso Moving & Packing, Goodman Gallery.

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