Two Automobiles (Ford and Citroën 42-89-Y2) (Deux Automobiles [Ford et Citroën 42-89-Y2])

Following the despair of World War II, Jean Dubuffet used art to express his disapproval of the classical realist aesthetics of totalitarianism. His notion of raw art (art brut) takes inspiration from social and historical outsiders such as naïve artists, children, prisoners, and the insane. Opposed to conventions of logic, reason, and beauty, Dubuffet’s style emphasizes crude, two-dimensional, schematic works. In this 1961 drawing, a vividly flattened image of a dark smoky mass labeled “FORD” contrasts with the faintly sketched outline of the Citroën, each identifiable by its four wheels, two headlights, and steering wheel. Dubuffet wryly comments on the effect of cars on individuals as he depicts the skeletal features of two figures in each vehicle, seemingly trapped within the flattened frame. The long license-plate numbers referenced in the title suggest the codification of the urban landscape that came with the rise of French and American cars in the wake of the postwar reconstruction boom.