Typewriter III
Jean Dubuffet
French, 1901–1985
1964
A compact drawing in felt-tip and ballpoint pen where Dubuffet reduces a typewriter to a stacked, puzzle‑like cluster of outlined shapes and energetic hatch‑marks, turning a familiar machine into a raw, vernacular image.
Thick black contours confine interlocking blobs, stripes, and irregular forms filled with alternating red and blue hatching, producing a flattened, tactile pattern that reads like a graphic textile or a map of parts.
Echoing his interest in Art Brut and everyday materials, Dubuffet reframes an industrial object through rough, graffiti‑like gestures, helping steer postwar art toward a more immediate, anti‑academic vocabulary of mark‑making.
Medium
Felt-tip pen and ballpoint pen on paper
Dimensions
8 3/8 x 10 5/8" (21.0 x 26.9 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the artist, in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph F. Colin
Accession
1328.1968
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
