Dubuffet-Paulhan Correspondence Reveals Artistic Rivalry and Friendship

A new volume of the Cahiers de la NRF, 'Dubuffet Paulhan, correspondance 1944-1968' (Gallimard), presents letters from artist Jean Dubuffet to writer Jean Paulhan. The collection is one-sided because Dubuffet burned Paulhan's letters in a fit of rage in the late 1950s. Despite this imbalance, Dubuffet's letters reveal his sharp wit, polemical violence, and evolving relationship with Paulhan. Initially a respectful correspondent seeking career help, Dubuffet later became a successful painter exhibiting abroad, addressing Paulhan as an equal. He harshly criticized Paulhan's associates, including Marcel Arland and Dominique Aury, and dismissed many intellectuals and artists such as Paul Éluard, Jean-Paul Sartre, Balthus, Bernard Buffet, and Sigmund Freud. He admired Jean Fautrier, Francis Ponge, Henri Michaux, Antonin Artaud, and especially Louis-Ferdinand Céline, despite Céline's antisemitism. The volume also includes a preface by Julien Dieudonné and Marianne Jakobi. Separately, a correspondence between Paulhan and Éluard (1919-1944), published by Claire Paulhan, shows their enduring friendship despite literary and political differences, including Éluard's Stalinism and the postwar épuration conflicts. The book includes a photo of Paulhan and Éluard taken during the Occupation.