Jean DubuffetFrench, 1901–1985Figure from the "Legends" Series
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “Figure from the "Legends" Series” now? Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.
Cleveland, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
The obsessive repetition of forms and phantasmagoric polychrome apparitions in his Legends series in 1961–62 prefigured Dubuffet’s Hourloupe cycle that began in 1962 and occupied
the artist for the next 12 years. While doodling at the telephone, Dubuffet created the cool, anonymous idiom he identified as the Hourloupe, in which the compositions consist of pockets of intense colors framed by firm black lines. The effect is of a jigsaw puzzle-like mosaic of tightly interlocking cellular forms. Dubuffet’s concern was not to show objects as they might appear in the world but completely flat expressions of the irrational or pre-logical mind. With his Hourloupes, Dubuffet effectively created his own distinct language: a world of fantasy and grotesque figures and shapes that belong only to him.
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Details
- Accession number
- 1977.51
In the catalog
Sources
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art — © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
In the life of Jean Dubuffet
The whole life1960
402 works at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris
In 1960 the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris showed 402 works by Dubuffet.
late 1960 – 1961
Musical experiments with Asger Jorn
In late 1960–1961 Dubuffet began experimenting with music and sound and made several recordings with the Danish painter Asger Jorn, a founding member of the avant-garde movement COBRA.
1962
Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York
In 1962 the Museum of Modern Art in New York showed eighty-five of Dubuffet's works.
28 June 1964 – 6 October 1964
Exhibition: Documenta III
1964–1965
Exhibitions in Venice, Amsterdam and Paris
In 1964–1965 Dubuffet's work was shown at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice (107 works), the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (198 works) and the Paris galleries of Jeanne Bucher and Claude Bernard.
