La Fabuloserie, which opened in 1983 to the public , was devised and completed by the architect Alain Bourbonnais so as to shelter his collection of “hors-les-normes art”. This appellation was suggested to Alain Bourbonnais by Jean Dubuffet, who wanted the name of “art brut” to be reserved for his own collection. It refers to out of the ordinary creations made by self-taught artists. After opening a gallery, the Atelier Jacob, in Paris 1972 and 1982, l’Atelier Jacob, Alain Bourbonnais decided to create, with his wife Caroline, un musée qu’il nomme « La Fabuloserie». L’espace se compose d’une « maison-musée » où sont exposées plus de mille créations allant des dessins de Yanko Domsic aux bourrages de Francis Marshall, and the amazing series of “Turbulents” by Alain Bourbonnais himself.
“With all the ingenuousness of the architect who was fed up with rational architecture and who dreamt of anarchitecture, Alain Bourbonnais created an initiating circuit, a labyrinth with surprise-rooms to be opened surreptitiously, at the risk of being filled with shudder and horror, such as the black room where Marshall’s “bourrages” lean and lie. You climb up steep and narrow flights of steps. You cross walls. All is strange. surprising. and unusual. All is provoking. All is spell-binding. "
Michel Ragon, writer, art and architecture historian, art critic.
