Remarkably,
Brutal Beauty is the first major survey of Jean Dubuffet’s work in the UK in more than 50 years. Yet, as the curator Eleanor Nairne points out, Dubuffet has remained a source of inspiration for successive generations of artists. David Hockney’s early career was “set alight” by seeing Dubuffet at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in 1955, Nairne says. Jean-Michel Basquiat “completely fell in love with” the Frenchman’s “tumultuous” landscapes and his scribbling marks, she adds. And the impetus for the present show was visiting contemporary artists and seeing “how actively they re engaging with his work in their practice”.