It seems extraordinary that our forthcoming exhibition of Gaston Chaissac’s work should be only the second in the UK, after the one held at Fischer Fine Art in 1986. Sourced from an important private European collection, the exhibition will include important works from 1951 to 1964, the year of his death.

Chaissac is a painter who combined the influences of outsider art with African and Prehistoric. He was an important influence on Jean Dubuffet and a leading member of Art Brut. Initially he enjoyed the strong support of Dubuffet, but they later fell out when Dubuffet felt that Chaissac’s work was becoming too sophisticated.

Both Robert Combas and Georg Baselitz have championed and been influenced by his work. His exhibitions in New York from 1964 at Gallery Ekstrom, who also showed Duchamp, Man Ray and Noguchi, were greatly admired, combining as they did ‘outsider art’ with a crucial understanding of surrealist writings.

Despite his impoverished beginnings, Chaissac’s talent was quickly spotted when he arrived in Paris in 1937. Encouraged first by Otto Freundlich and then by Albert Gleizes, Chaissac’s work and fierce intelligence came to the attention of artists, writers and collectors.

Like Miró, Chaissac was happy to use found objects and a variety of materials in his work. So wallpaper, old suitcases, planks of wood and old tins were all painted and transformed to become Chaissacs.