DUBUFFET JEAN: (1901-1985) French Painter and Sculptor. Best known for founding the Art Brut movement. A very fine and cleanly written A.L.S., Jean Dubuffet, one page, 4to, Le Touquet, 26^th July 1963, to Noel Arnaud, in French. Dubuffet initiates his letter referring to the cold weather in the north of France and states `J´ai reçu le tire a part de votre étude sur Ménard, fortement impréssionné par l´attentive lecture que j´en ai faite. La brillante allégresse de votre ample texte, sa grande autorité, l´ampleur de la documentation sur laquelle il se fonde, me stupéfient positivement´ (“I received the offprint of your study on Ménard, strongly impressed by the attentive reading I made of it. The brilliant joy of your ample text, its great authority, the breadth of the documentation on which it is based, amaze me positively”) A very interesting content letter related to Dubuffet´s interest in the works by antisocial persons and mentally ill people without any artistic culture knowledge. Dubuffet refers to a patient dead in hospital stating `Je voudrais bien connaitre le nom du médecin chef principal de l´hopital de Maison Blanche, en vue de solliciter qu´il m´autorise a prendre connaissance du dossier de Madame Jeanne Tripier, qui a été hospitalisée dans cet établissement a partir de 1935 et y est demeurée ensuite jusqu´a son déces. Comme vous le savez je fais une étude approfondie des manuscrits de cette malade et ce serait pour moi tres précieux de recueillir des informations sur sa biographie, et notamment sur les circonstances de sa vie antérieure à son internement´ (“I would like to know the name of the main chief medical officer of the Maison Blanche hospital, in order to request that he authorizes me to read the file of Madame Jeanne Tripier, who was hospitalized in this establishment from 1935 and remained there until his death. As you know, I am doing an in-depth study of the manuscripts of this patient and it would be very valuable for me to gather information on her biography, and in particular on the circumstances of her life prior to her internment”) VG