Hidden Worlds. Outsider Art at the Museum Dr Guislain

Univers Cachés. L’Art Outsider au Musée Dr Guislain /
Hidden Worlds. Outsider Art at the Museum Dr Guislain

Book Description:
Lannoo, Belgium, 2007. Hardback, 265 x 215 mm.

Contributors (a.o.): Patrick Allegaert, Yvonne Beelen, Jos ten Berge, Ans van Berkum, Roger Cardinal, Nico van der Endt, Johann Feilacher, Carine Fol, Marianne Kooijman, David Maclagan, John Maizels, Liesbeth Reith, Thomas Röske.

‘True art is never found in the place one expects: it is found where no one takes notice or no one bothers to name it,’ writes the artist Jean Dubuffet in 1949. The authors of this book are, just as Dubuffet was, looking for a different expression of art: ‘art brut’, ‘raw art’ or ‘outsider art’. Art created outside the established order of art. The work of artists, who, in their own way, focus on a ‘different’ artistic approach. Exceptional is that they are outsiders. Some are mentally handicapped, others mentally disturbed. As outsider art is not an artistic trend, it is not bound by any artistic rules. The artists themselves are not professionals and have therefore had no schooling of great importance. Their art is characterised by spontaneity, authenticity and idiosyncracy. Outsider art is created on the fringes of the artistic establishment and refers through its directness to men’s creative powers. This book tries to broaden the interest for this exceptional artistic form created by ‘outsiders’.