Monday 4 March 2019

bildnerei der geisteskranken

Having visited the Prinzhorn gallery in Heidelberg recently, I had a deep appreciation for this extensive and respectful curation of some of the Outsider Art that comprises the collection from Public Domain Review.
Inspired by Swiss psychiatrist Walter Morgenthaler published his studies on the creative and therapeutic energies of Adolf Wรถlfli, a patient under his care at the Waldau Clinic, assistant to the director of the psychopathology school Hans Prinzhorn amassed a catalogue, drawing on his training as an art historian and informing his overarching theses that we are driven by urges and tendencies to create—to leave traces of ourselves—that are revealed in the repertoire of the mental ill, whose upbringing may not recognise the same norms and mores that would otherwise inhibit examination. Especially worthy of note are the sculptures of former bricklayer Karl Brendel (several pictures at both sources), who until given wood to carve as a medium expressed himself with masticated bread.  More to explore at the links above, including pages and pages of unique and insightful images with attributions at Public Domain Review.