7.07.2009

art brut - outsiders art







Henry Darger (American, 1892-1973) Darger's work (above) has become one of the most celebrated examples of outsider art. Fascinating bio about Henry Darger on above link.

The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut "raw art" or "rough art", a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by insane-asylum inmates.

While Dubuffet's term is quite specific, the English term "outsider art" is often applied more broadly, to include certain self-taught or Naïve art makers who were never institutionalized. Typically, those labeled as outsider artists have little or no contact with the mainstream art world or art institutions. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrates extreme mental states, unconventional ideas, or elaborate fantasy worlds.

Outsider art has emerged as a successful art-marketing category (an annual Outsider Art Fair has taken place in New York since 1992). The term is sometimes misapplied as a catchall marketing label for art created by people outside the mainstream "art world," regardless of their circumstances or the content of their work.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

never knew where the term originated -cool- love the first image where she seems to emerge from a glass sculpture of a fish...

victoria kloch said...

That's my favorite too. :-)
Thanks for stopping by!

Yum Yum Buttons said...

Is Darger the greatest! I got to see a show of his work in person in Seattle - they had to build special frames so you could see the front and back of pieces of paper- because he drew on both sides! ♥

victoria kloch said...

Both sides of the paper...I didn't know that he did that. I would love to see his work. Thank you for sharing!