Universal Principles of Art

6 AUTHENTICITY AND OUTSIDER ART

THE POWER OF ART MADE OUTSIDE THE CULTURAL MAINSTREAM

In 1922, Hans Prinzhorn, a German doctor, published Bildnerei der Geisteskranken (The Artistry of the Insane), a study of the art of hundreds of mental patients whose work the doctor had collected. This book influenced some of the leading artists of the time, including Franz Marc (1880–1916), Paul Klee (1879–1940), Jean Dubuffet (1901–85), and Max Ernst (1891–1976). Dubuffet was so fascinated that he went on to form a movement called “Art Brut,” which championed the art of the insane and other people working in isolation, untouched by the mainstream art world. “Those works created from solitude and from pure and authentic creative impulses—where the worries ...