Art Brut: The Origins of Outsider ArtIn the first half of the twentieth century, avant-garde artists in Europe, keen to break with academic tradition, began looking beyond the accepted canons of Western art in a search for new sources of inspiration. "Primitive" art, the drawings of children, the art of the insane, automatism, and graffiti all opened up new avenues of experimentation. One of the key figures in this drive to push back the boundaries of art was leading French artist Jean Dubuffet. At the end of World War II, Dubuffet became interested in the works being produced by patients in psychiatric hospitals and by other social outcasts. He made two fruitful trips to Switzerland, where he discovered Wö lfli, Aloï se, and Mü ller, now recognized as important exponents of what was later to become known as "Outsider Art." In 1948, Dubuffet founded the Campagnie de l'Art Brut in order to extend and document the collections he had recently begun. In 1976, after various adventures, the Collection de l'Art Brut moved to its permanent home in Lausanne. This carefully researched book traces the history of the concept of Art Brut, which is inseparable from the work and personality of the man who did the most for the appreciation and preservation of these remarkable works. The account is completed by biographical notes on the artists featured and an extensive bibliography. The works reproduced, mostly from the collection created by Dubuffet, have retained their subversive freedom, which continues to fascinate and inspire artists and collectors today. |
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Adolf Wölfli Alfonso Ossorio Aloïse André Breton Art Brut Art Brut artists asylum Augustin Lesage began Bern Born Brut Collection Neuve Brut's Collection de l'Art Collection Neuve Invention Colored pencil Compagnie de l'Art created creation creative cultural curator Darger Dereux devoted donation Doudin drawings écrits suivants esthetic exhibition expression Ferdière Fondation Jean Dubuffet Foyer de l'Art François gallery Gallimard Gaston Chaissac Geneva Gouache Gugging Heinrich Anton Müller Henry Darger Hernandez ibid insane interest interviewed Jean Dubuffet Klee Krüsi l'Art Brut l'Art Brut Collection L'Art Brut series Ladame later Lausanne letter Lonné Louis Soutter Madge Gill madness marginal mentally ill Michel Tapié Michel Thévoz Musée d'Art museum Neuve Invention Nouvelles Ossorio Outsider Art painter painting Paris Paul peinture Peiry Peiry's Archives Photograph pieces Pierre Porret-Forel Prinzhorn Prospectus psychiatric hospital René Drouin Scottie Wilson sculptures Slavko Kopac Switzerland Tinguely tion undated Vence Walla watercolor York