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Art Brut and "Outsider" Art
After World War II, culture became increasingly saturated
by the mass media, and it grew difficult to find artists who were truly immune
to outside influences. The French artist Jean Dubuffet therefore began collecting
work by artists who, in addition to lacking formal training, for one reason
or another were largely untouched by conventional culture. Many of these artists
suffered from mental illness, and all were driven by arcane inner visions
that often made sense only to themselves. What Dubuffet dubbed Art Brut--"Raw
Art"--was translated into English as "Outsider Art" by the
British art historian Roger Cardinal. However, as the term "Outsider
Art" gained popularity in the U.S., it was applied to a broad range of
self-taught art, much of which would probably not qualify as Art Brut according
to Dubuffet's standards. African-American artists, in particular, have objected
that the term "Outsider Art" reflects a white, Eurocentric bias.
We have chosen to group the artists handled by the Galerie St. Etienne
according to when they were first discovered. For the most part, artists
promoted in the first half of the 20th century tend to fall into the "naive"
camp, while those discovered in the past half century fall more readily
in to the Art Brut or "outsider" category.
However, as a practical matter it should be noted that the distinctions
between "naive" and "Art Brut" go only so far. Even in
Europe (where the categories are more distinct than in the U.S.) there
are
artists such as Nikifor and Wittlich (both considered "naives")
who blur the lines. In the U.S., the distinctions between "naive"
and "outsider" really have much more to do with when the artists
were "discovered" than they do with any clear-cut stylistic boundaries.
For this reason, many scholars prefer the modern designation "self-taught"
to the more confusing (and often inadequate) adjectives "naive," "outsider,"
and "art brut."
Artists
Joseph Crépin (French, 1875-1948)
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Henry Darger (American, 1892-1973)
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Minnie Evans (American, 1892-1987)
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Howard Finster (American, b. 1916)
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The Artists of Gugging |
Pavel Leonov (Russian, b. 1920)
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Michel Nedjar (French, b. 1947)
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Josef Karl Rädler (Austrian, 1844-1917)
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Martin Ramirez (Mexican, 1885-1960)
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Vasilij Romanenkov (Russian, b. 1953)
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Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern (German, 1892-1982)
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Jon Serl (American, 1894-1993)
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Bill Traylor (American, 1854-1947)
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Scottie Wilson (Scottish, 1888-1972)
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Joseph E. Yoakum (American, 1886-1972)
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Rosa Zharkikh (Russian, b. 1930)
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Gallery Exhibitions
Galerie St. Etienne, New York
Folk Art of This Century, February 10, 1987 - March 28, 1987 Rigaud Benoit, Camille Bombois, Minnie Evans, Ivan Generalic, Hector Hyppolite, John Kane, Gustav Klumpp, Grandma Moses, Nikifor, Philomé Obin, Horace Pippin, Martin Ramirez, Henri Rousseau, Bill Traylor, Louis Vivin, Joseph Yoakum and many others
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The "Outsider" Question, March 23, 1993 - May 28, 1993 André Bauchant, Camille Bombois, Henry Darger, Minnie Evans, Howard Finster, John Kane, Grandma Moses, Nikifor, Joseph Pickett, Horace Pippin, Martin Ramirez, Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern, Jon Serl, Bill Traylor, Louis Vivin, Scottie Wilson, AdolfWölfli, Joseph Yoakum and others
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On the Brink 1900-2000, March 28, 1995 - May 26, 1995 Ernst Barlach, Max Beckmann, Charles Burns, Lovis Corinth, James Ensor, Howard Finster, Eric Fischl, George Grosz, Erich Heckel, Gustav Klimt, Max Klinger, Käthe Kollwitz, Alfred Kubin, Oskar Laske, Sally Mann, Frans Masereel, Steve McCurry, Ludwig Meidner, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Edvard Munch, Emil Nolde, Gary Panter, Georges Rouault, Egon Schiele, Cindy Sherman, David Wojnarowicz and others
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That Way Madness Lies, January 14, 1997 - March 15, 1997 A pair of exhibitions including works by Max Beckmann, Richard Gerstl, Erich Heckel, Paul Klee, Oskar Kokoschka, Alfred Kubin, Otto Mueller, Emil Nolde, Egon Schiele, Johann Fischer, Johann Hauser, Franz Kernbeis, Oswald Tschirtner, August Walla and others
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Sacred & Profane, January 13, 1998 - March 14, 1998 A pair of exhibitions including works by Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Oskar Kokoschka, Alfred Kubin, Otto Mueller,Michel Nedjar, Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein, Egon Schiele and others
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Henry Darger and His Realms, January 14, 1999 - March 13, 1999
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The Modern Child, September 14, 1999 - November 6, 1999 Charles Burchfield, Sue Coe, Henry Darger, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Edward Hopper, Käthe Kollwitz, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Grandma Moses, Alice Neel, Ben Shahn, Raphael Soyer, Egon Schiele and others
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European Self-Taught Art, January 18, 2000 - March 11, 2000 Anselme Boix-Vives, Aloïse Corbaz, Joseph Crépin, Pietro Ghizzardi, Madge Gill, the Artists of Gugging, Augustin Lesage, Michel Nedjar, Nikifor, Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern, Sava Sekulic, Alfred Wallis, Alois Wey, Scottie Wilson, Josef Wittlich, Adolf Wölfli, Carlo Zinelli and others. Side Shows: New Works by Henry Darger, January 18 - February 12. Expressionist Prints, February 15 - March 11
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"Our Beautiful and Tormented Austria!": Art Brut in the Land of Freud, January 18, 2001 - March 17, 2001 Emanuel Navratil, Josef Karl Rädler, Arnulf Rainer (in collaboration with Johann Hauser) and the Artists of Gugging. Side Show: Henry Darger
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Russia's Self-Taught Artists, January 14, 2003 - March 29, 2003 Henry Darger, Pavel Leonov, Vasilij Romanenkov, Nikifor Zaiatz, Rosa Zharkikh
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65th Anniversary Exhibition, Part II, January 18, 2005 - March 26, 2005 Henry Darger, Minnie Evans, Edward Hicks, Morris Hirshfield, John Kane, S.F. Milton, Anna Mary Robertson ("Grandma") Moses, Ammi Phillips, Joseph Pickett, Prior-Hamblen School, Martin Ramirez, Bill Traylor, Ilija Bosilj-Basicevic, André Bauchant, Camille Bombois, Gaston Chaissac, Aloïse Corbaz, Joseph Crépin, Madge Gill, Augustin Lesage, Michel Nedjar, Nikifor, Josef Karl Rädler, Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern, Louis Vivin, Scottie Wilson, Adolf Wölfli, Anna Zemankova, Carlo Zinelli, Johann Fischer, Johann Garber, Johann Hauser, Franz Kernbeis, Heinrich Reisenbauer, Oswald Tschirtner, August Walla.
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