Charles-Frédéric Brun known as Le Déserteur
“At first glance, he is a character from Victor Hugo. More than from the French border, he seems to have stepped straight out of Les Misérables before it was even written. His hands are white, and he goes to the people. He might be a bishop, surrendering himself to public charity. He must have committed some unknown crime — in any case, the crime of anarchy: something, though we know not what, burns brightly in his past. He is simple with grandiloquence. He speaks of God like a child. He is day and night, black and white, good and evil — all of it is there.”
Jean Giono, Le déserteur, Editions Gallimard, Paris, 1973, p.25
LE DÉSERTEUR, CHARLES-FRÉDÉRIC BRUN DIT (1811-1871)
Saint Joseph, Saint Jean, 1867, 14 may
Beuson, Joseph Marie Glassay
Gouache and ink on paper
Signed lower right C.F.B.
37 x 22,5 cm
€20,000 / 30,000
Almost nothing is known about him. Occasionally, a scrawled signature — “C.F.B.” for Charles-Frédéric Brun. No biography, no dates, just a nickname: the Deserter — which already says a lot. It refers to a man on the margins, perhaps a peddler, perhaps a beggar, certainly a self-taught painter who, in the 1840s, roamed the Swiss alpine valleys of Valais, carrying with him religious images as both his baggage and his identity. His work defies traditional categories — neither school, nor movement, nor academic technique. It belongs to a rural, popular art, deeply rooted in everyday life. For the Deserter, painting does not aim to please; it serves as prayer, as memory, as a statement of faith. He tackles grand subjects without shame or ambiguity, because to him, the saints of paradise are made of the same stuff as the shepherds of Valais.
In the work that Tajan will present this coming September, two great Christian figures look upon us with kindness: Saint Joseph and Saint John. The artist treats them with the same respect he shows to all beings around him, with no hierarchy between the sacred and the living.
Saint Joseph, patron saint of workers and families, is depicted in a simple yet noble outfit. He holds a shield adorned with various tools that evoke both his profession as a carpenter and his spiritual virtues — hammer, saw, compass — all symbols of skilled work and honest living, qualities also reflected in the artist himself. Opposite him stands Saint John the Baptist, wearing an animal fur cloak, referencing the biblical description of John clothed in camel’s hair. He points to the Lamb of God — Ecce Agnus Dei — a figure of Christ. His floral necklace seems to herald his spiritual triumph in the purest of ways.
A delicate floral decoration brings balance to the composition and creates a link between Saint Joseph and Saint John. This keen sense of ornamentation points back to the Deserter’s presumed Alsatian origins. It closely recalls the decorative style found on painted furniture and reverse glass paintings typical of Alsace, Bavaria, Tyrol, and Switzerland. The Deserter is a good and simple man. In his work, there is only honesty — a sincere love of nature and of things. And if he paints the Virgin and the Saints, it is not to pretend or to impress.
François Mathey, René Creux, Le Déserteur peintre d’images Charles Frédéric Brun, cat. exp. Musée des arts décoratifs, july 1967, Edition Atelier Creux, Lausanne : 1967
Josef Wittlich
JOSEF WITTLICH (1903-1982)
Sans Titre
Gouache et tempera sur papier
80 x 60 cm
€400 / 600
Jean Dubuffet
Couple de Figures, 1972, A work depicting the Dubuffet vs. Renault trial.
This collage and felt-tip on paper, dated 1972, is dedicated to Jacques Robine, an architect and court-appointed expert for the Paris Court of Appeals. The work has remained in the Robine family to this day. Between 1973 and 1983, a legal battle raged between Jean Dubuffet and the Régie Renault. The reason: a commission Renault had given to Dubuffet for the Salon d’été, a 1,800-square-meter sculpture garden intended to be installed at the company’s headquarters in Boulogne-Billancourt. However, the project was abandoned by Renault just one year after construction began. Why? Renault cited cost overruns, modifications made by the artist, and above all, a waterproofing issue with the slab on which the sculpture garden was built — a problem they claimed was due to miscalculations on the part of the artist.
This is where Jacques Robine comes in. As an architect and expert witness, he determined that Dubuffet’s work, begun a year earlier, had not damaged the slab. He refuted Renault’s claims that the structural issues were caused by the artist’s sculpture. In gratitude, Jean Dubuffet offered him this collage.
This work is a powerful testament to the support Jacques Robine gave to Dubuffet. Couple de figures belongs to a pivotal period in Jean Dubuffet’s production. The year 1972 marks the peak of his Hourloupe cycle, just as the Coucou Bazar project was beginning to take shape. Hourloupe began in 1962 with spontaneous sketches the artist made while on the phone. Using a black ballpoint pen, he drew geometric shapes that he later filled in with blue and red hatching. These ghost-like drawings gradually took on life and individuality. In Couple de figures, we find the dense accumulation of black geometric forms so characteristic of this body of work. These clusters begin to shape figures, and eventually, characters. Here, Dubuffet uses collage rather than drawing, as he is envisioning mobile figures. These mobile figures — called praticables (cut-out modules) — would soon come to life in a choreographed interplay of sculpture and painting in Coucou Bazar, created in 1973.
JEAN DUBUFFET (1901-1985)
Couple de figures, 1972
Collage and felt-tip on paper
Signed and dedicated “to Jacques Robine” at the top right
€10,000 / 15,000
André Robillard
ANDRÉ ROBILLARD (né en 1931)
Fusil saturne étoile polaire
Mixed media assemblage
Signed, titled, and annotated “Adrine / Coline”
Length: 71 cm
€500 / 700
Jules Lefranc
JULES LEFRANC (1887-1972)
El Palacio, Oñate
Oil on panel
Signed lower left
Signed again, titled, and located “Oñate” on the back
24 x 33 cm
€1,000 / 1,500
Marguerite Burnatprovins
MARGUERITE BURNATPROVINS (1872-1952)
Visage
Pencil on paper
Signed and inscribed at the bottom
€1,500 / 2,000
Louis Soutter
LOUIS SOUTTER (1871-1942)
Madonne à l’enfant avec deux anges, 1923/1930
Colored pencils on paper
26 x 17 cm
€4,000 / 6,000
INFORMATION
Monday, September 22, 2025
Tajan, 37 rue des Mathurins, 75008 Paris
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+33 1 53 30 30 48 – [email protected]
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