Synopses & Reviews
Recently interest has surged in what Jean Dubuffet called Art Brut, and#8220;raw artand#8221; produced by persons operating outside cultural norms, reflecting inner need rather than any and#8220;officialand#8221; artistic attitude. Of the known practitioners of Art Brut, one of the most gifted was the Swiss peasant Adolf Wand#246;lfli. From 1895, when he was thirty-one, until his death in 1930, Wand#246;lfli was incarcerated in Waldau hospital, severely afflicted with rage and depression. Supplied with colored pencils and paper by his primary physician, Walter Morgenthaler, he began to draw. Morgenthalerand#8217;s pathbreaking study of Wand#246;lfli and his art, published in 1921, aimed at the center of contemporary debates about the relationships between creativity, madness, and art. This first English-language edition includes twenty-four color reproductions of Wand#246;lfliand#8217;s art and Wand#246;lfliand#8217;s brief account of his own life.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 124-127) and index.
About the Author
Aaron H. Esman, the translator, is a professor of clinical psychiatry at Cornell University Medical College and a member of the faculty of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute.