Intimite 1959

Jean Dubuffet made 'Intimite' using lithography, a printing process that relies on the resistance between grease and water. The effect is achieved by drawing an image onto a flat stone or metal plate with a greasy crayon, then treating the surface so that ink adheres only to the drawn areas. What's compelling here is the all-over quality Dubuffet achieves, not so different from the paintings being made at the same time by American Abstract Expressionists. The image has a profound sense of surface, as if it has been weathered by time or scarred by experience. The artist coaxes a gritty, textural richness from a medium that is usually associated with clean lines and reproducibility. It is an unusual approach, as if Dubuffet wanted to test the limits of printmaking, and to push it towards the kind of direct material engagement more often associated with sculpture. By emphasizing process and materiality, we can start to understand how Dubuffet challenged the traditional hierarchy between fine art and craft.