Bill Brandt
Jean Dubuffet

Artist Bill Brandt (British, born Germany, 1904–1983)British, born Germany, 1904–1983

CultureBritish

Titles

Jean Dubuffet

Date1960

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 13 1/2 × 11 5/8 in. (34.3 × 29.5 cm)
Sheet: 13 1/2 × 11 5/8 in. (34.3 × 29.5 cm)
Mount: 19 15/16 × 16 in. (50.6 × 40.6 cm)

Credit LineThe Allan Chasanoff Photographic Collection

Object number91.420

Not on view

Explore Further

Department

Photography

Special Collections

Allan Chasanoff Photographic Collection

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionIn the 1960s, when photographing kindred spirits on assignment, Brandt sometimes made a second, more personal picture that reduced his subject to an iconic symbol: the eye. He photographed Jean Arp, Georges Braque, Jean Dubuffet, Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, Henry Moore, Louise Nevelson, and Antoni Tàpies, among others, and the powerful portraits that resulted are worthy of the Surrealists—extreme close-ups that set the organ of immortal vision within a timeworn, mortal face. Famous for their unique vision of the world, these artists are nonetheless entirely unidentifiable by this single feature, which is dependent on their captioned names for recognition.
ProvenanceAllan Chasanoff, New York; given to MFAH, 1991.
Exhibition History"Tradition and the Unpredictable: The Allan Chasanoff Photographic Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,January 16-March 27, 1994.

"The Eyes Have It", December 12, 1994–February 26, 1995.

"Photographs by Bill Brandt: A Sense of Wonder," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 2-April 27, 2008.

"Optical/Perceptual: Photographs from the Allan Chasanoff Collection," Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, October 6, 2008–January 4, 2009.

Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

verso lower left corner in pencil " Jean Dubuffet "

lower right corner below image in ink " Bill Brandt "

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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