-
"Mad Artists" study by W.A.F. Browne
W.A.F. Browne in 1880 wrote an article "Mad Artists" to demonstrate that the art of psychiatric patients was no different from that of others, focusing on their more conventional creations, foreshadowing a later concern in outsider art of whether there is something distinctive about the work of such outsiders. -
Cesare Lombroso's "The Man of Genius"
Cesare Lombroso's The Man of Genius collected work from 108 patients he deemed artistic. He describes characteristic features of “mad art” as “eccentricity’, ‘symbolism’, ‘minuteness of detail’, ‘obscenity’, ‘uniformity’ and ‘absurdity,’ and argued that genius was a type of insanity, thus accepting the Romantic link between genius and madness, but classifying both as “degenerate” regression to earlier state of development. -
European exhibitions of patient art curated at asylums
1898, 1900- Exhibitions of patient art at asylums in Europe displaying the art work of patients at Bethlem and Lisbon -
"Art of the Mad" by psychiatrist Paul Meunier (Marcel Reja)
The first work to view the art of psychiatric patients from the point of view of aesthetics rather than primarily pathology, suggesting it could yield insights for the study of creativity, and while “primitive”, was not pathological. -
"A Mental Patient as Artist" by Hans Morganthaler
-
"Artistry of the Mentally Ill" by Hans Prinzhorn
studies the art of "Schizophrenic Masters" -
Jean Dubuffet coins the term 'Art Brut'
and creates L'Compagnie de l’Art Brut to promote its study -
Leo Navratil, "Schizophrenia and Art"
Leo Navratil argues that artistic expression is a symptom of schizophrenia whose expression can lead to healing. -
"Outsider Art" published by Roger Cardinal
-
"Collection de l'Art Brut" opens in Lausanne, Switzerland