Hubert Duprat was born in 1957 in Nérac in Lot-et-Garonne, he lives and works in the South of France.
Protean, demanding and complex, Duprat’s work draws inspiration from chance and the empirical, combining the discovery of objects, remnants and texts in a testing-out of matter, technique and dexterity. The artist is equally happy in the natural world or working with strange minerals (iron pyrites, calcite, ulexite, etc.), species that defy classification (amber, coral, etc.) and everyday industrial materials (polystyrene, concrete, paraffin, modelling clay, etc.) His repurposed processes come largely from the crafts – marquetry, goldsmithery, upholstery – but also from such vernacular domains as string art.*
His work can be found in several public collections among which: Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Tasmanie/AU; Centre Pompidou, Paris/FR; Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Monaco/FR; Collection Musée des Arts Contemporains de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Grand-Hornu/BE ; Paris Museum of Modern Art, Paris/FR; Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon/FR ; Fondation Cartier, Paris; Fond National d’Art Contemporain, Paris; and in numerous regional art funds (FRAC).
A retrospective of his work was presented at the City of Paris Museum of Modern Art in 2020-2021. Solo exhibitions have been dedicated to his work among which: Art : Concept, Paris/FR (2019); MONA, Tasmania/AU (2013); Norwich Museum, Norwich/UK (2011); Centre International d’Art et du Paysage, Vassivière/FR (2008); Musée Picasso, Antibes/FR (1998).
*Read the press release for the exhibition “Hubert Duprat” at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, written by Jessica Castex, 2020
Hubert Duprat, Les cahiers du Musée national d’art moderne n°163, Sous la direction de Jean-Pierre Criqui, Editions du Centre Pompidou, 2023, 112 pagesHubert Duprat, catalogue d’exposition, Editions Paris Musées, Paris, 2020, 176 pagesHubert Duprat, Miroir du Trichoptère -The Caddisfly’s Mirror, Fage Editions (with the support of Fondation Antoine de Galbert), 2020
