Exterior View Gallery

Us-France-Dubuffet

Pedestrians admire 27 October 1972 a Jean Dubuffet sculpture at the Chase Manhattan Plaza in New York City. Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985) was born in Le Havre, France. He moved to Paris in 1918 to study painting at the Academie Julian, but after six months he left the Academie to study independently. In 1924, doubting the value of art, he stopped painting and took over his father's business selling wine. He took up painting again in the 1930s, but again stopped, only turning to art for good in 1942. Influenced by Hans Prinzhorn's book Artistry of the Mentally Ill, Dubuffet coined the term Art Brut for art produced by non-professionals working outside aesthetic norms, such as art by mental patients, prisoners, and children. Dubuffet sought to create an art as free from intellectual concerns of that as Art Brut, and his work often appears primitive and child-like. AFP PHOTO / AFP PHOTO

© Agence France-Presse (AFP) - All Rights Reserved

Lebanon-Virgin Megastore

Picture taken 12 June 2001 shows the art-deco Opera Building, which was badly damaged during Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, undergoing renovation work in the heart of Beirut to become the first Virgin Megastore branch in the Middle East next month. The British multimedia firm's store will be officially inaugurated by Virgin owner, British billionaire Richard Branson, on 03 July in the former music hall which was built in the 1930s under the French mandate. The store, established over an area of 2, 800 square meters similar in size to the Virgin Megastore in Paris Champs-Elysees, will display CDs, DVDs, CD-ROMs and books and will include two restaurants and a stage for theatrical performances and concerts. AFP PHOTO/Joseph BARRAK / AFP PHOTO / JOSEPH BARRAK

© Agence France-Presse (AFP) - All Rights Reserved

The mirador, 9th century

LRI4679892 The mirador, 9th century by Mayan, (9th century); Labna, Yucatan, Mexico; (add.info.: Precolombian Art, Mayan Civilization: View of the Mirador de Labna Ceremony Centre, 9th century Yucatan Mexico (the miador of Labna, Mesoamerican archaeological site and ceremonial center of the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization, located in the Puuc Hills region of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico City)); Luisa Ricciarini; out of copyright

© Luisa Ricciarini / Bridgeman Images