DUBUFFET (JEAN) Series of 4 autograph letters and 18 typed letters signed ('Jean Dubuffet'), and one autograph airmail envelope, to Albert Corduant ('Cher ami'), in French, corresponding on the use of new materials in his work, the first urgently ordering a large quantity of white Rollplastique ('...the basis of my work at the moment...'), sending him tubes of paint to determine '...the weight of colour in the tubes delivered commercially to the artist', going on to discuss various solvents, paints, and varnishes, admitting he is struggling with his portraits, working on L'Almanach de l'Art Brut and that he has consulted a friend who is a building contractor and another who is a fresco painter for recipes, asking technical questions about the grinding of pigments, completing the treatise on techniques but that the Almanach will not see the light of day, on his problems with the fixity of pigments with relation to light, attempting to obtain various colours, asking him to analyse various brands of paints and varnishes such as Pierrolin (which he praises), writing from New York on the problems of American paint ('...there is a great deal of infatuation with synthetic products in all branches of American industry, and in the paint and varnish industry, they sell all kinds of paints based on 'Lacquer' which dry instantly and have a strange and disturbing smell...'), discussing various products and the problems of using vinyl pastes and polyester resins for his collages on canvas and his success with oils, his interest in the aquagraphy technique used by Michel Duval, and much else, some typed letters with autograph additions, one with paint label affixed, 26 pages, dust-staining and discolouration, some marks, 4to (270 x 210mm.) and smaller, Paris, New York, Vence, 5 November [19]46 to 9 February [19]67 (23) Footnotes: 'EN FAISANT DE COPIEUX ESSAIS DE TECHNIQUES DIVERSES, IL VA ME FALLOIR PAS MAL DE COULEURS EN POUDRE': JEAN DUBUFFET COLLABORATES WITH A CHEMICAL ENGINEER ON HIS PAMPHLET ON PAINTING AND SEEKS INFORMATION ON NEW PRODUCTS. Throughout 1948 Jean Dubuffet was writing his technical pamphlet, Peinturez hardi ('Paint boldly!'), part of his unrealised Almanack de l'art brut, a project which never came to fruition due to prohibitive printing costs and Dubuffet's fear that the influence of Andre Breton would pull the publication towards Surrealism and away from Art Brut. The pamphlet, a 'recipe book' for painters that detailed the minutiae of chemical compositions and processes, was very much Dubuffet's own personal project - '...it was Dubuffet's 'baby,' his brainchild. Fixatives, emulsions, pastes: These were the bread and butter of Dubuffet's practice throughout the late 1940s. Peinturez hardi mattered to him deeply; it weighed on him, preoccupied him, and he tackled it with his usual thoroughness, studying comparable publications and consulting with industry specialists...' (Rachel E. Perry, 'Paint Boldly!: Dubuffet's DIY Manual', October, Fall 2015, Vol.154, pp.87-110, p.90). One of these specialists was the recipient of our letters, Albert Corduant, a chemist working for Lagèze & Cazes, and their detailed correspondence began in 1946 and continued well into the 1970's. The late 1940's and 50's were a revolutionary time in the paint industry as synthetic paints began to be widely available and Dubuffet embraced these new products in his work, and therefore sought the scientific knowledge needed to use them successfully. In the summer of 1946, when this correspondence begins, he began keeping studio logs, carnets d'atelier, meticulously listing materials used and how he used them. One of the autograph letters is written on flimsy air mail paper from New York, where he was exhibiting 29 works at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in 1951. Provenance: Tajan, 17 October 2012, lot 34; Ader, 27 June 2013, lot 44. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * * VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing