Freeform: Jean Dubuffet, Simon Hantaï and Charlotte Perriand

Freeform is an exhibition of works by Jean Dubuffet, Simon Hantaï and Charlotte Perriand. Presented is a meeting of art and design through a dialogue of formal structure and organic forms, as defined by three French pioneers working across mediums of painting, sculpture and furniture.

Driven by egalitarian and populist ideals, Charlotte Perriand believed that considered design could have a positive impact on everyday life and, in turn, on society at large. Taking forms inspired by objects in nature, Perriand generated furniture that was functional, true to raw materials, and responsive to human gestures and interactions. The first ‘Free-Form’ table emerged in 1954.

Whilst Perriand was compelled by conscious design and an awareness of surroundings, Jean Dubuffet’s output was largely driven by a productive unconscious. Each of the sculptures exhibited is connected to Hourloupe, Dubuffet’s longest cycle, which first appeared in 1962 and continued through to 1974. Initially executed on paper, Dubuffet’s adventures in automatism resulted in drawings and paintings made up of multiple cells, where each space comes to life both as an individual element, and as a component within a larger structure.

A defining characteristic of the Hourloupe cycle was the manifestation of a belief that there is continuity between objects, places and figures, much like Simon Hantaï ’s Meun paintings which were developed through his ‘pliage’ technique and resulted in bold, amorphous, images of chance.

In 1960, Hantaï first developed ‘pliage’, a technique where the canvas is crumpled and folded, then doused in colourful paint. Later, as the canvas is unfolded, the work is revealed for the first time, with areas of positive and negative space having been determined by the element of chance inherent to this technique.