Ampleur 1959

Jean Dubuffet made "Ampleur," which is French for "breadth," using aquatint, a printmaking technique known for its tonal effects. The surface here feels less like a picture and more like a relic. Dubuffet plays with texture, creating a field of mottled browns and tans, a world of subtle variations. It's easy to imagine him obsessively layering, scraping, and reworking the plate. It is this process that creates the finished image. Focus on that lighter streak that runs across the middle of the picture, like a horizon line in a landscape. It's a subtle gesture, almost accidental, but it opens up the whole composition, allowing you to enter the work. Dubuffet's interest in raw expression and his rejection of academic traditions are evident in this work. It reminds me of Antoni Tàpies, another artist who embraced humble materials and challenged conventional notions of beauty. "Ampleur" invites us to see the extraordinary in the ordinary and to appreciate the beauty of imperfection.