Disorienting Forms: Jean Dubuffet, Portraiture, Ethnography

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dc.contributor.advisorHughes, Gordonen_US
dc.contributor.committeeMemberBader, Grahamen_US
dc.contributor.committeeMemberAresu, Bernarden_US
dc.creatorChadwick, Stephanieen_US
dc.date.accessioned2016-01-06T21:01:24Zen_US
dc.date.available2016-01-06T21:01:24Zen_US
dc.date.created2015-12en_US
dc.date.issued2015-08-04en_US
dc.date.submittedDecember 2015en_US
dc.date.updated2016-01-06T21:01:24Zen_US
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation explores an under-studied yet key aspect of Dubuffet’s figuration—the intersections between Surrealism, ethnography, and performance in his portraits of writers and artist-intellectuals seeking to transform art, culture, and the human image in the post-WWII context. As I argue, Dubuffet produced his portraits in dialogue with the writings of certain of his key sitters, whose prose extolled alternative art forms as a means to transform Western art and culture. Considering Dubuffet’s portraits in relation to his and his sitters’ writings, as well as arts and ethnographic publications, I reveal his looking, for artistic inspiration, to the very cultural forms that had informed his sitters’ production. Many of these are Oceanic masks and figures found in Surrealist collections. Intriguingly, however, many are Indonesian masks, costumes, and puppets that have received scant attention in art historical studies. Combining a variety of visual sources to produce hybrid figures, Dubuffet aimed, I argue, to both affect the viewer and promote a thought-provoking artistic experience. In foregrounding the physicality of his figures in relation to the painting’s surface, moreover, Dubuffet calls attention to the very structure of the tableau, foregrounding the embodied and enculturated, experiences of the viewer. Chapter One, “Animat[ing] the Material:” Dissociation, Performance, and Ethnography in Dubuffet’s Portraits of Antonin Artaud, considers Dubuffet’s painting in relation to the mad Surrealist’s celebration of the affective qualities of Balinese stagecraft in his book The Theater and Its Double. Chapter Two, “The Hand Speaks:” Dislocation, Creativity, and Meaning in Dubuffet’s Portraits of Henri Michaux, considers these likenesses with regard to an aesthetic of displacement in Michaux’s book A Barbarian in Asia and to a variety of Indonesian masks and puppets. Chapter Three, “Evocations and References:” Assemblage, Translation, and Transformation in Dubuffet’s Portraits of Michel Tapié, considers Dubuffet’s depictions of this painter, critic, and curator in tandem with the Oceanic motifs to which, I argue, Dubuffet turned to produce his hybrid, collage-like figures. “Transmuting:” Collage, Theatricality, and Performativity in Dubuffet’s Self-Portraits, concludes the dissertation with an overview of Dubuffet’s career-long engagement with hybridity, collage, and performativity gleaned through his self-portraiture.en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.citationChadwick, Stephanie. "Disorienting Forms: Jean Dubuffet, Portraiture, Ethnography." (2015) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/87732">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/87732</a>.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/87732en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.en_US
dc.subjectDubuffeten_US
dc.subjectArtauden_US
dc.subjectMichauxen_US
dc.subjectTapiéen_US
dc.subjectPaulhanen_US
dc.subjectportraiten_US
dc.subjectportraitsen_US
dc.subjectportraitureen_US
dc.subjectfigurationen_US
dc.subjectIndonesiaen_US
dc.subjectIndonesieen_US
dc.subjectBalien_US
dc.subjectBalineseen_US
dc.subjecttheateren_US
dc.subjectthéâtreen_US
dc.subjectbalinaisen_US
dc.subjectSumatranen_US
dc.subjectOceaniaen_US
dc.subjectOceanicen_US
dc.subjectnon-Westernen_US
dc.subjectarten_US
dc.subjectethnographyen_US
dc.subjectethnographicen_US
dc.subjectSurrealen_US
dc.subjectSurrealismen_US
dc.subjectSurrealisten_US
dc.titleDisorienting Forms: Jean Dubuffet, Portraiture, Ethnographyen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialTexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentArt Historyen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineHumanitiesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorRice Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen_US
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