Michel Boudin (born In 1944), The Man Who Suspects Nothing, 1999

Michel Boudin (born in 1944)
The Man Who Suspects Nothing, 1999
Indian ink over old pencil drawing on paper dated “March 6 (18)84” top right
Signed and dated “1999/2000” in bottom right
Titled on the back of the original frame
61.5 x 47.5 cm

sold in its original frame
condition visible in photos: small stains, small gaps on the edges

Born in 1944 in Beauvais, Michel Boudin Since childhood, he has had a passion for the unusual popular arts in which he found refuge. This collector of the popular imagination, who became a fine connoisseur, particularly of glazed earthenware, later became an antiques dealer.

The desire to create in turn had been driving him for a long time when Michel Boudin began drawing with Indian ink at the end of the 1990s. Although initiated only around twenty years ago, the work of Michel Boudin quickly became noticed on the outsider art scene. His drawings have already been the subject of monographic and collective exhibitions in several institutions: Museum of Franche Creation of Bègles, Museum of Bushier Arts of Saint-Sever-du-Moustier, Museum Ingres of Montauban.

He creates inks that are sometimes purely independent on paper or vellum, sometimes by reusing old engravings and drawings found at flea markets which he diverts by adding small creatures and other insects. These little creatures then swarm around harmonious bodies drawn in a classic style. Indeed, Michel Boudin's graphic universe is populated with zoomorphic figures inspired by insects, fish, birds and even cats. They are sometimes depicted with their jaws gaping, revealing sharp teeth. These little creatures represented in hordes multiply and invade the sheet, sometimes going so far as to form a pattern which completely saturates the space.

The ink drawing that we present is made from a pencil study dated March 1887 representing an academic male nude from behind. The insects that spread behind his back divert the initial drawing by giving it a disturbing character. The artist sometimes uses stamps made from his drawings which allow him to repeat over and over again these zoomorphic patterns which seem to gallop across the paper. © A. BIOT