Looking Inside at Outsider Art

Words by Otty Allum

One of the genres of art that I am most drawn to is Outsider Art, also known as Raw Art or Art Brut. Tate defines Outsider Art as ‘art that has a naïve quality, often produced by people who have not trained as artists or worked within the conventional structures of art production’.

‘Irren-Anstalt Band-Hain’, by Adolf Wölfli (1910)

Outsider Art was beginning to be recognised at the turn of the Twentieth Century, when the art of psychiatric patients began to garner attention. One of the first artists to be recognised for their work was Adolf Wölfli in 1921, who had spent almost half of his life in a psychiatric hospital for schizophrenia; his doctors had found that the practice of drawing had calmed him a great deal. To me his work represents and epitomises his tumultuous and emotional inner world, in some ways it seems he is attempting to provide a sense of order to chaos. 

Agnes Richter's Jacket, (1895)

Hans Prinzhorn (1886-1933) spent much of his career accumulating works by psychiatric patients, and the collection is now housed at the Heidelberg University Hospital. For me, one of the most notable artworks in his collection is Agnes Richter’s jacket; created by Richter, a schizophrenic seamstress, upon her admittance to Hubertusburg Hospital. There is a note attached to the jacket by the hospital staff that implies Richter embroidered on all of her clothes and undergarments. The jacket displays layers of embroidered text, most of it illegible, however there are small phrases that have been deciphered, saying things such as ‘my jacket’, ‘I wish to read’ and ‘I plunge headlong into disaster’.

Prinzhorn’s work was widely recognised within art circles and was of great influence on artists, most notably the French painter Jean Dubuffet. Dubuffet began creating his own collection, he didn’t just focus his attention on work by those suffering from mental illness, but also people on the fringes of society; ‘outsiders’. He was the one who coined the title ‘Art Brut’ or ‘Raw Art’.

Untitled, by Minnie Evans (1960)

For many Outsider Artists there is a strong spiritual element to their work, often they are called to create work by exterior spiritual forces. One such artist is Minnie Evans (1892-1987), at age 52 she created her first pieces when she heard a voice telling her to ‘draw or die’. For the next 50 years, the act of drawing became a religious discipline, she felt compelled to create, influenced by dreams and visions. Her work often featured faces encumbered with plants and animals in vibrant colours. In acknowledgment of her work she said, ‘they are just as strange to me as they are to anybody else’. Other spiritual Outsider Artists that I recommend looking at are Augustin Lesage, Madge Gill and Hilma af Klint (who is actually believed to be the first abstract painter).

Untitled (Drinking Bout), by Bill Traylor

(1938-1943)

Another Outsider Artist that I wish to highlight is Bill Traylor (1853-1949), he was born into slavery on a plantation in Alabama, where he remained for a number of years after the emancipation of the slaves at the end of the American Civil War. He began drawing when he was in his eighties, living on the streets of Montgomery. His work expresses his tumultuous life journey and the great historical events that he was a witness to, although his work is ambiguous, it is clear that he is telling a story, referring to moments in his past.

Art Brut is not necessarily a movement in which artists associate or identify themselves with, but rather a label that they are assigned by art critics or historians. Personally I prefer the term Art Brut, assigning someone the label of ‘outsider’ seems to devalue the work that they create. I think the term ‘outsider’ is very telling when it comes to the nature of the ’Western’ art world and mainstream society, especially when used to describe artists who may be non-white, disabled, neurodivergent or who live a more unconventional lifestyle than that of mainstream society. It can definitely contribute to the further othering of these already marginalised groups of people. I believe it's important to acknowledge the barriers that people face in pursuing an art education and that lacking in formal art training should not mean an artist is excluded from the canon.

Recently Outsider Art has risen in popularity and recognition, I think with this comes a certain fetishization of work by marginalised people. Their work is an expression of their often quite difficult experiences, at the same time, there is no doubt that their work is striking and extraordinary. However, I think often people fail to connect Outsider Artists’ life experiences with the fact that they are products of the harsh imbalances within society. I guess I worry that their work will be treated as fun novelties, not as evidence of these artists’ rich inner lives and their encounters in the world at large.