1901-1985. French artist. He originated l'art
brut, `raw or brutal art', in the 1940s. He
used a variety of materials in his paintings
and sculptures - plaster, steel wool, straw,
and so on .- and was inspired by graffiti and
children's drawings. L'art brut emerged in
1945 with an exhibition of Dubuffet's own
work and of paintings by psychiatric patients
and naive or untrained artists. His own
paintings and sculptural works have a similar
quality, primitive and expressive.