In 1982, six years after the death of the famous French illustrator and caricaturist Albert Dubout (1905-1976) his most controversial work L’oeuvre secrète (The Secret Work) was posthumously published by the Compagnie Jean-Jacques Pauvert and the rights holders of the artist.
Fig.1.
Hidden Archives
One of the right holders was his wife and fellow artist, Suzanne Ballivet (1904-1985), who was aware of Dubout's hidden archives and its provocative content. This secret legacy consisted of free drawings in which the artist explores a wide range of sexual human relationships that can be divided into three themes: homoerotic, straight and underage.
Fig.2.
Sensitivity and Humor
It is very likely that the sexual activities were not Dubout's favorite, but that he could not suppress his curiosity to explore these subjects through his artistic medium. And whatever one thinks of the subject matter in this work, one cannot deny Dubout's skill to take any situation to the absolute extreme, frequently with an outstanding degree of sensitivity and humor, which characterize him as an exceptional artist.
Fig.3.
Simply Terrible
The writer Frédéric Dard, who was the prefacer of the volume to L’oeuvre secrète and the first 'outsider' allowed to see this work describes it as follows: "These drawings are not Gallic, neither bawdy, nor obscene, they are quite simply terrible. It is one of the most cruel spotlights that an artist has ever given on delirious humanity. Because in the end, these fellows who sodomize or taste each other, these fellows in sexual agony, it's you, it's me, it's the man."
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We've omitted the images of the most provocative drawings in this set. You can find these and all 45 drawings of L’oeuvre secrète in the Taboo category in Premium
Click HERE for our earlier article on Albert Dubout.
Sources: images provided by the devoted member Bruco C., christies.com
