Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985) was a French artist who experimented with unconventional materials and techniques in painting, sculpture, and printmaking in order to challenge traditional ideas of beauty, culture, and taste. He started painting at the age of 17 and practiced it off and on until 1942, when at the age of 41 Dubuffet began pursuing artmaking seriously. He took what he called an “anticultural” stance, rejecting polished aesthetics and embracing instinct and raw emotion with found textures and natural forms like gravel, foliage, and even tin foil. 

Dubuffet coined the term “art brut” (“raw art”) to describe works created outside mainstream culture. With help from the Surrealist André Breton, he amassed a significant collection of such works. He later donated the collection to the city of Lausanne, Switzerland. In his own art, Dubuffet constantly innovated. His famous Phenomena series—a set of 362 lithographs—was made with natural and industrial materials and recalls cosmic forms and microscopic elements. Dubuffet’s prolific experimentation and instinct-driven approach positioned him as a groundbreaking force in 20th century art, pushing boundaries across multiple mediums and redefining artistic expression.

Exhibitions of Dubuffet’s work have been organized by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York; Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York; Tate Britain, London, England; and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France, among others. Dubuffet's work is held in numerous prestigious public and private collections around the world, including the aforementioned institutions, as well as the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France; Tate Modern, London, England; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Netherlands; and the Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, among others. 

Dubuffet’s first solo presentation at GRAY was Théâtres de Mémoire: Scènes Banales in 1979. His work has been featured in various GRAY exhibitions since, including Dubuffet at 80: Recent Works, 1981; Modern and Contemporary Masters, 1992; Selections from the Estate of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Wolfson, 2002; Forty Years, 2003; and GRAY at 60, 2023.