Le Bel costumé, Modern sculpture in Tuileries Garden, France.
Le Bel costumé is a sculpture in the Tuileries Garden that depicts a human figure standing upright. The work stands about 4 meters tall and is made of epoxy resins and polyurethane, with its surface divided into geometric sections painted in bold colors and outlined in black.
Le Bel costumé was not made during Jean Dubuffet's lifetime: it was executed in 1998 from a maquette he designed in 1973. The figure was originally intended for a monumental ensemble at the entrance to a wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington. It was installed in the Tuileries Garden in 2000, together with about a dozen other contemporary works.
The work belongs to Jean Dubuffet's L'Hourloupe cycle, begun in 1962, whose figures are built from flat cells outlined in black and filled with red, blue, white or hatching. The sculpture stands near the Jeu de Paume, the museum that devoted Dubuffet's first exhibition to him.
The sculpture is located within the Tuileries Garden and is easy to find from the main entrance areas. Visitors should allow time to walk around it and view it from different angles to appreciate its surface details.
The figure features an asymmetrical extended left arm that stands out in its composition. The surface treatment alternates between solid color sections and striped patterns, creating a layered visual effect that shifts depending on where you stand.
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