An introduction to Outsider Art

"Outsider Art" is a term that has come to cover a wide range of meanings, and therefore can often be misused or misunderstood, so we'll try to clarify it a bit and show you some examples of work that we saw at the 2010 Outsider Art Fair in New York City.

In its most general sense, Outsider Art can be considered to be art made by people who have no formal training in art and make their art without an awareness of art history and with little or no contact with the mainstream art world or art institutions.

In addition to self-taught artists, Outsider artists can include those who are visionary, eccentric, schizophrenic, psychotic, mentally disabled, and obsessive or compulsive. One can trace this back to the early 1920's, when Dr. Hans Prinzhorn, a German psychiatrist and art historian, collected thousands of works by psychiatric patients. In 1922, he published a book titled "Artistry of the Mentally Ill," which became well-known amongst the Surrealists and other artists of the time.

One artist who took this interest in Prinzhorn's collection a step further was the French painter Jean Debuffet (1901 – 1985). In 1948, Dubuffet along with Surrealist Andre Breton and several writers and critics created the "Compagnie de l’Art Brut," an organization founded with the purpose to seek out and collect art works of extreme individuality. They focused on artists who were not only untrained but also had little or no knowledge of any other forms of art other than their own.

Dubuffet's original term "Art Brut" means "Raw Art," because he considered it "uncooked" or uninfluenced by the arts culture. The purest of the "Art Brut" artists would be those who would not even consider themselves artists, but rather that their art making was just something they had to do, just a process that was natural to them.

outsider art painting by William Hawkins

Painting by William Hawkins, a self-taught artist, born in 1895. He grew up in Northern Kentucky and had only a third grade education.

3 examples of Outsider Art seen at the 2010 Outsider Art Fair.

In his search for Art Brut, Dubuffet considered three characteristics that he considered essential to be included in the collection. First, the artist creating Art Brut must be somehow distanced from society, either due to mental issues or being socially isolated. Second, the art work by such an artist must be conceived and produced outside of any art schools, galleries or museums, and is created only for the private use of its creator - meaning that it was not made with an audience or collector in mind. Third, the style of the art being made should come from personal invention rather than a known artistic style.

outsider art painting seen at the Outsider Art Fair

Those three characteristics could still be considered the essential aspects of Outsider Art, but back to the beginning where we said there are now often misunderstandings about the term "Outsider Art," it's because it's sometimes used as an umbrella term to cover a wider variety of art styles, including folk art, primitive art, tramp art, and prison art, among others. Let's take a look at some more examples of work seen at the 2010 Outsider Art Fair.

Wood figures, artist unknown

Painting with crucifixion scene, artist unknown

Artist unknown

Artist unknown

Artist unknown

Three more examples of Outsider Art, including another painting by William Hawkins at far right.