Crepin was a plumper from the port of Calais in France. He only began painting in his sixties, after experiencing an increase in his spiritual powers subsequent to meeting painter and medium Victor Simon. Influenced by supernatural voices, Crepin began to fill sketchbooks with dedicatedly symmetrical designs. Crepin’s works are surprisingly mathematical in their creation. He would create his paintings by enlarging sketches onto canvas using a compass and a ruler. Crepin’s hypnotic works are generally based on architectural forms and geometric patterns to which he added human figures and animals. Convinced of his ability to end wars, Crepin believed that the Second World War would end on the completion of his 300^th painting; something which by chance did in fact happen.  Jean Dubuffet, who coined the term Art Brut, believed Crepin to be an ‘anti-natural’ artist and was thoroughly intrigued by these spiritual symmetric pieces. After completing 300 works, Crepin moved on to what he called ‘Tableux merveilleux’ of which he completed 45 before his death.

 

See some examples of Crepin’s work below:

 

Places to see the work of Crepin:

abcd Collection, Paris

L’Aracine Collection, Musee d’Art Moderne, Lille Metropole

Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne

Eternod/Mermod Collection, Lausanne

Sources:

Raw Vision’s Outsider Art Sourcebook