Eugène GABRITSCHEVSKY (1893-1979) - Lot 232

Eugène GABRITSCHEVSKY (1893-1979) Untitled, Butterflies Watercolor and ink (pen) on verso of a typescript letter in German, wet-stamped on the back by Galerie Alphonse Chave in Vence with the artist's initials. 20.8 x 29.5 cm PROVENANCE: D.B.C. [Daniel Bouyjou-Cordier] collection, handwritten on the back with reference number. Eugène Gabritschevsky (1893-1979) was born in Moscow. A brilliant scientist, biologist and geneticist, he worked in the 1920s in the United States and Paris at the Pasteur Institute, acquiring an international reputation, particularly in the field of insect mutation. It was in 1929 that he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. and he was committed to the Haar psychiatric hospital near Munich, where he remained until his death in 1979, having created, in complete solitude, thousands of drawings. It was Jean Dubuffet who discovered his abundant work in 1950, and it was also the creator of Hourloupe, who prompted gallery owner Alphonse Chave to acquire almost the entire body of work. A fascinating junction between artistic and scientific imagination, Gabritschevsky's creations are one of the most brilliant demonstrations of the creative and evocative power of randomness.