KEYNOTE:More than 100 years of unschooled artistic genius is gathered in this wide-ranging survey that will delight and inform Outsider Art's rapidly growing audience. Visionary art, art brut, art of the insane, naïve art, vernacular art, "raw vision"--what do all these and many other categories describe? An art made outside the boundaries of official culture, first recognized more than a century ago by German psychiatrists who appreciated the profound artistic expression in the work of institutionalized patients. Promoted by brilliant museum curators like Alfred Barr and artists like Jean Dubuffet, such work became a wellspring of modern and contemporary art. This volume brings together works by twelve of the most influential self-taught artists to emerge during the past century. Each represents a facet of the outsider art phenomenon, from mental patients like Adolf Wölfli and Martín Ramírez, through vernacular masters like Bill Traylor and Thornton Dial, to artists who seem to be in touch with other worlds, such as Madge Gill and Henry Darger. Related artists are featured along with each key figure, allowing a fuller picture to emerge. This book presents a narrative of the history of outsider art, clarifies predominant theoretical issues, and draws comparisons with the modernist tradition. It brings into focus the enormous contributions self-taught artists have made to our understanding of creative genius and presents them in a book that will enthrall anyone interested in Outsider Art. AUTHOR: Charles Russell is Professor Emeritus of English and American Studies at Rutgers University, Newark. He is a contributing editor to Raw Vision, an international magazine of outsider art, and is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Self-Taught and Outsider Art. ILLUSTRATIONS: 180 colour

Cent peintres autodidactes américains du vingtième siècle - incluant Victor Duena, la Soeur Gertrude Morgan, Henry Darger et Freddie Brice, avec 260 reproductions toutes en couleurs de leurs oeuvres.

Outsider art has exploded onto the international art scene, gaining widespread attention for its startling originality and visual power. As an expression of raw creativity, outsider art remains associated with self-taught visionaries, psychiatric patients, trance mediums, eccentric outcasts, and unschooled artistic geniuses who create things outside of mainstream artistic trends and styles. Outsider Art: Visionary Worlds and Trauma provides a comprehensive guide through the contested terrain of outsider art and the related domains of art brut, visionary art, “art of the insane,” and folk art. The book examines the history and primary issues of the field as well as explores the intersection between culture and individual creativity that is at the very heart of outsider art definitions and debates. Daniel Wojcik's interdisciplinary study challenges prevailing assumptions about the idiosyncratic status of outsider artists. This wide-ranging investigation of the art and lives of those labeled outsiders focuses on the ways that personal tragedies and suffering have inspired the art-making process. In some cases, trauma has triggered a creative transformation that has helped artists confront otherwise overwhelming life events. Additionally, Wojcik's study illustrates how vernacular traditions, religious worldviews, ethnic heritage, and popular culture have influenced such art. With its detailed consideration of personal motivations, cultural milieu, and the potentially therapeutic aspects of art making, this volume provides a deeper understanding of the artistic impulse and human creativity.

The first book to give self-taught art the same degree of scholarly attention and critical thinking that mainstream art traditionally receives

In this examination of self-taught artists who are often on the fringes of the social system, the inner workings of a traditional network of money, status, and values are revealed, describing how authenticity is central to this system.

Today the work of so-called "outsider" artists is receiving unprecedented attention. This major critical appraisal of America's 20th-century self-taught artists coincides with a major 1998 traveling exhibition organized by the Museum of American Folk Art in New York. While some of these artists have received critical recognition, others remain virtually unknown, following their muse regardless. 150 color images.

The biographical section of this resource records 1000 US artists. Other sections contain lists of museums with folk, self-taught and outsider art in their permanent collections; galleries; organisations; publications; exhibitions; educational opportunities; and an annotated bibliography.