French creator, born in 1918 in Lyon, died in 2001, known for his peelings pictures.
Life
Philippe Dereux was born into a modest family of small shopkeepers. A primary school teacher by training, he taught at a school in Villeurbanne until his retirement in 1973.
In the summer of 1955, in Vence, he met Jean Dubuffet. He collected butterflies for him and helped him make his assemblages of butterfly wings and leaves. In 1959 he began composing his own works from plant residues.
The work
Dereux made abstract and decorative compositions, but also portraits, from fruit and vegetable peelings and assorted seeds. He coloured them with walnut stain, oil or gouache. In 1966 he published, with Julliard, the Petit Traité des épluchures (Little Treatise on Peelings), in which he set out his approach.
Among his works: Paris la nuit (1973), paint on a collage of peelings on panel, 64 x 48.5 cm; L’Idole aux mains tendues (1973), acrylic and collage on wood, 73 x 52 cm.
Exhibitions
- Galerie Les Yeux Fertiles: “Favourites. Art Brut, Naive Art, Art Singulier”, 15 March to 13 April 2024, including Paris la nuit (1973)