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Dubuffet and Brutalism: Barbican Walking Tour

An image of Texturology by Jean Dubuffet

Join Jon Astbury, Assistant Curator, Architecture & Design at the Barbican for a walking tour around the Barbican Estate, exploring the relationship between Jean Dubuffet, Art Brut and Brutalism.

Art Brut and Brutalism – both terms share a use of the French ‘brut’, meaning ‘raw’, ‘crude’ or (if we are talking about champagne) ‘dry’. But beyond their linguistic similarities and the aesthetic they evoke, these two movements – both emerging in the late 1940s and early ’50s – shared a deeper set of concerns about what art and architecture could and should be.

This event has been programmed to coincide with Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty, an exhibition celebrating French artist Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985), one of the most singular and provocative voices in postwar modern art.

 

Jon Astbury is currently a visiting lecturer in Architectural History and Theory at De Montfort University, Leicester and has lectured at The Bartlett, UCL. Prior to joining the Barbican as Assistant Curator in Architecture and Design he held editorial posts at The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal.

The tour will begin at the 'Tours Meeting Point' on our Lakeside.

Please be prepared for all weather conditions.

Discover

black and white photo of jean dubuffet smiling against some sort of wall with giant black lines

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Not familiar with Jean Dubuffet ? Don’t fear, as our Research Assistant and resident Dubuffet expert Camille Houzé has written a short biography about the artist’s life and legacy.

An image from Our Lucky Hours

ScreenTalk: Our Lucky Hours

A discussion between Sarah Lombardi and Ben Platts-Mills about Martine Deyres’s documentary Our Lucky Hours, which tells the story of a pioneering psychiatric institution in 1930s France.