Outsider art
Art made by self-taught individuals outside official culture.
Outsider art is art made by self-taught individuals who are untrained and untutored in the traditional arts, with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. Dubuffet focused particularly on art by those on the outside of the established art scene, using as examples psychiatric hospital patients, hermits, and spiritualists.
- coined_by
- Roger Cardinal
- equivalent_term
- art brut
- art_brut_coined_by
- Jean Dubuffet
- art_brut_coined_in
- 1940s
- field
- Visual art
- known_for
- Art created outside official culture by self-taught individuals
Lore & Background
The book and art collection gained much attention from avant-garde artists including Paul Klee, Max Ernst, and Jean Dubuffet. Dubuffet was particularly struck by the book and began his own collection of such art, which he called art brut. The collection he established became known as the Collection de l'art brut and is now permanently housed in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Reader's Guide
The term is sometimes applied as a marketing label for art created by people who are outside the mainstream 'art world' or 'art gallery system', regardless of their circumstances or the content of their work. Dubuffet characterized art brut as works created from solitude and from pure and authentic creative impulses, where the worries of competition, acclaim, and social promotion do not interfere. He argued that 'culture' assimilates every new development in art, taking away its power, and that only art brut was immune to such assimilation. However, scholars argue Dubuffet's distaste for the mainstream art world helped ensure that art brut and the Compagnie de l'Art Brut would not survive on a commercial basis; three years after it was formed, Dubuffet dissolved it, caving in to form the more conventional Collection de l'art brut afterward. The interest in 'outsider' practices among twentieth-century artists and critics can be seen as part of a larger emphasis on the rejection of established values within the modernist art milieu, alongside Cubism, Dada, Constructivism, and Futurism.
Did You Know?
- Jean Dubuffet's art brut collection is now permanently housed in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Outsider art?
Outsider art is visual art created by self-taught individuals who have had little or no exposure to formal training or the conventions of the mainstream art world. These makers work entirely outside the institutional and cultural frameworks that typically define 'official' art.
How does Outsider art relate to art brut?
Outsider art is essentially the English translation of art brut, a French phrase meaning 'raw art' or 'rough art.' Both terms describe creative work produced by individuals operating outside the boundaries of established cultural institutions.
Who created the art brut concept and when?
French artist Jean Dubuffet developed the art brut label in the 1940s to identify art made by people on the margins of the established art scene. He specifically pointed to works by psychiatric patients and others with no connection to mainstream artistic culture.
Why is Outsider art considered important?
Outsider art matters because it presents creative expression completely unfiltered by academic training, market expectations, or gallery politics. It challenges the assumption that artistic value depends on formal education or institutional recognition.
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