The National CollegeArt and Society: Inside and Out
Outsider Art: Inside or Out?
Lisa Moran
In 1998, the Musgrave Kinley Outsider Art Collection, which features many of the best known outsider artists, was given on loan to the Irish Museum of Modern Art. To date, the relationship between outsider and mainstream art has been articulated in terms of inside and outside, based on the assumption of a distinct, if somewhat elusive boundary. The loan of this significant collection of outsider art to a mainstream museum of modern art provides an unprecedented opportunity to explore the relationship between outsider art and mainstream art and the implications of such a loan for both.
Outsider art is a broad term, originally coined by Roger Cardinal, in 1972, as the English equivalent of Jean Dubuffet's term l'Art Brut, which refers to the art work of people with no formal artistic training or experience, who create their work without reference to mainstream arts practice, and who are inspired by their own inner experience. Outsider art comprises the art work of a diverse group of people, spanning three centuries, who have little in common except their experience of marginalisation. There is no consensus on definitions of outsider art and the simplicity of the term masks a multitude of sub-categories, such as naïve art, folk art, child art, and psychotic art.
Outsider artists are assumed to create their work without reference to existing cultural practice and to engage in creative activity primarily for private, rather than public, consideration. They are usually 'discovered' by others, who either acquire their work for collection, sale and/or exhibition, or encourage the artists to create and exhibit their work.
Historically, outsider artists were found in the large psychiatric institutions throughout Europe, spanning the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries.1 This phenomenon might have come and gone with the phasing out of such institutions since the 1950s, had it not been for the emerging interest, initially on the part of the avant-garde and, more recently, within the mainstream art world, in the artistic production of marginalised people, particularly people experiencing psychiatric disorders.
Some advocates argue that outsider art began when asylum inmates in the nineteenth century, such as the schizophrenic artist, Adolf Wölfli, were encouraged to express themselves through painting and drawing. Others believe that outsider art was 'discovered' in the early 1920s by the art historian and psychiatrist, Hans Prinzhorn. The art historian, Caroline Douglas, supports this notion, suggesting that the Prinzhorn Collection, which comprises the art work collected by Prinzhorn, 'stands at a fork in the road' (Douglas, 1997, p. 35) where anthropology, psychiatry and the avant-garde converge. More recent analysis points to an unprecedented interest in the art produced by people presumed to be cultural 'outsiders' during the 1970s and 1980s, (Hall and Metcalf, 1994, p. xii). These benchmarks are significant not as indicators of the origins of outsider art, but of the moments in time, when outsider art became separated, or reaffirmed as separate, from the rest of society. While people experiencing psychiatric disorders did not begin creating art works as a result of confinement, such confinement provided the opportunity for their creative output to be considered and categorised as such. Prior to this, it seems, the opportunity to cluster together and observe the artistic output of people experiencing psychiatric disorders did not arise.
The shift from expulsion to confinement - epitomised by the establishment of the asylum - has served to internalise within the general consciousness the mechanism of confinement and segregation as a means of addressing issues of otherness. The emergence of outsider art as a phenomenon occurred at a time when the confinement of people with psychiatric disorders was in its prime. As a result of de-institutionalisation in the latter part of the twentieth century, the paradigm of confinement and segregation has been replaced by one of integration and dispersal. Thus, the locale for the creation of outsider art and the rationale for maintaining its separate status have been simultaneously dismantled.
The interest in outsider art work on the part of avant-garde artists was in response to the perceived constraints of modernism;2 yet, developments in contemporary cultural discourse have challenged and discredited many of these perceived limitations in favour of an approach characterised by plurality and diversity. Simultaneously, outsider art as a separate category of arts practice has never been in such a strong position, as the wealth of specialist publications, exhibitions, auctions and conferences will testify. Despite the decreasing numbers of 'classic' psychotic artists, the flexibility of criteria and the cultivation of existing artists have facilitated the emergence of enough new outsider art works to satisfy market demand while avoiding saturation.
The support structure built up around the phenomenon of outsider art, initially by avant-garde advocates such as Jean Dubuffet, Victor Musgrave and Monika Kinley, brought attention to an area of arts practice that otherwise might have gone unnoticed or, at best, have been confined to medical text books. They drew attention to the potential for innovative work of high standard to emerge in atypical contexts, such as psychiatric institutions, and for such work to inform mainstream discourse. It is possible that such work eventually would have been considered in the context of a more pluralist, encompassing art theory and practice. However, it seems more likely that the cultivation of this work by such advocates may, in fact, have contributed to this revision and transformation of art theory and practice, by providing avant-garde artists with inspiration in the form of actual rather than theoretical material with which to challenge and renegotiate existing standards.
At this point it is significant that outsider art engaged, albeit from an oppositional stance, with mainstream discourse and, through such engagement, contributed to the development of a more flexible and accommodating mainstream perspective. However, as outsider art has evolved and consolidated its position as an alternative form of arts practice, it has relinquished its role in this discourse, and is now primarily concerned with sustaining and safeguarding its own position. In this regard, it seems that the extent to which mainstream art theory and practice has become more encompassing, is in inverse proportion to the extent to which outsider art has become more insular and self-contained. This disengagement has meant that there is little opportunity for critical thinkers, writers and practitioners from both mainstream and outsider perspectives to engage with the emerging issues and constructively contribute to a wider discourse, which encompasses issues relevant to both.
This isolationist position has emerged in the absence of any dialectical discourse. Having reached a critical mass, there are several forces informing this position, such as the numerous advocates, who have made a considerable emotional, intellectual and financial investment in this area and who are, thus, reluctant or, at best, ambivalent about engaging in a serious renegotiation of its rationale. However, it seems that, at present, market forces are the driving force sustaining the notion of outsider art as a separate form of arts practice, as such exclusivity serves to reinforce the authenticity and increase the value of the work. The increasing market value of outsider art creates a momentum that has the potential to influence the nature and volume of the work. In this regard, the rhetoric with regard to the potentially detrimental influence of mainstream theory and practice on outsider art rings hollow in light of the unchallenged influence of market forces on such practice, especially in terms of their potential to transform the art object into a commodity.
The assumption, which underpins the rationale for outsider art - that it exists in opposition to mainstream art - has contributed to the adoption of this polarised position, wherein social, economic or psychological exclusion is equated with aesthetic exclusion. To make a virtue of such exclusion is to reinforce the grounds on which it occurs, inhibiting redress of these barriers.
Outsider art emerged as a vehicle of the avant-garde to challenge and stimulate definitions of art and artists. The current tendency towards conservation mitigates against risk-taking, experimentation and debate, which are characteristic of the avant-garde trends which underpin its ethos. If outsider art is to maintain its relevance as a form of arts practice and avoid descending into a state of commodification, it must seek out opportunities to re-engage in this dialogue with the mainstream. Such engagement may provide a forum other than the market, within which the work can be considered.
The long-term loan of the Musgrave Kinley Outsider Art Collection to the Irish Museum of Modern Art presents such an opportunity, not only for outsider art, but also for mainstream art to be informed and possibly transformed by this process. According to Sandy McNairne, exhibitions are central to the system in which art is produced, distributed and debated, (McNairne, 1999, p. 113). Previous approaches to the exhibition of outsider art have involved either specialised outsider museums, such as Château Beaulieu, in Lausanne, which houses Dubuffet's substantial Collection de l'Art Brut, or else self-contained touring exhibitions, such as the Prinzhorn Collection shown at the Drawing Centre, in New York, and the Armand Hammer Gallery in Los Angeles, during 2000. In such contexts, the art object is implicitly presented as artefact rather than artwork, thus avoiding any serious critical assessment or challenge. Such approaches to exhibiting outsider art works have been developed specifically to address associations with 'madness', 'childishness' and 'naivety'. They preclude a more complex reading of the work and have contributed to the insular context in which outsider art is produced, distributed and debated. Kenneth L. Ames puts forward the view that, in this way, outsider art advocates have constructed an 'imaginary domain' where artists are protected from anything that might impinge on them negatively, (Ames 1994, p. 255).
IMMA's exhibition policy with regard to the Outsider Art Collection provides a challenge to such practice by creating an unprecedented opportunity for the work to be seen within the context of IMMA's overall body of work, rather than as a separate entity. From the outset, IMMA has declined to adopt the traditional approach of a modernist museum to the collection and exhibition of art work, favouring instead an approach, which is concerned with the mediation of that art work to a diverse public, rather than the cultivation of the artist within a historical context. In this manner, the temporary, albeit long-term, loan of the Musgrave Kinley Outsider Art Collection to IMMA represents an opportunity for the Museum to 'mediate' rather than 'represent' the art work and to use it to challenge rather than reinforce definitions of art and artists. In this way it can gain critical attention and, as Emma Barker points out, it can thus contribute to shaping the forms of current artistic practice, (Barker, 1999, p. 103).
Precedents for this approach include the exhibitions from the Education and Community Programme, such as Unspoken Truths (1993), and Once is Too Much (1997-1998). These exhibitions, and the programmes of work from which they derived, set standards for education and community work within, rather than parallel to, the museum's activities. Similarly, the recent exhibition, Two PaintersWorks by AlfredWallis and James Dixon, (September - November 1999) in collaboration with the Tate Gallery St Ives, illustrates the way in which IMMA engages with, and represents work, that informs the art/non-art debate. Despite their considerable reputations, Wallis and Dixon have been referred to as 'naïve' or 'amateur' artists because they are untrained. According to the curator, Sarah Glennie, the association of such work with naivety and childishness has undermined the complexity of the work, such as composition, range of subject matter and treatment of materials. The high standard of curation, presentation and mediation of the work at IMMA provided an opportunity for a 'new, expanded interpretation' of the work.
IMMA considers that one of the key functions of a museum of modern art, through the acquisition of art works, is to challenge rather than to reinforce assumptions about definitions of art and artists. This flexibility of approach and rationale for acquiring work is evident in IMMA's acceptance of the Musgrave Kinley Outsider Art Collection on loan which, according to Head of the Collection, Catherine Marshall, makes a powerful argument for a new way of looking and thinking about art that is open and inclusive rather than closed an exclusive.
Since its inaugural exhibition, work from the Outsider Art Collection has featured in six exhibitions within the Museum, three exhibitions within the Museum's National Programme which tours Ireland, and four loan exhibitions. While the initial exhibition consisted exclusively of work from the Collection, subsequent exhibitions have been theme-based, and included work from a range of collections on loan to the Museum, along with work from its own collection. Exhibitions in IMMA tend to run for several months, and consequently work from the Musgrave Kinley Outsider Art Collection has been on view almost constantly since the Collection was originally given on loan to the Museum.
The approach to display of art work from the Outsider Art Collection is indicative of the way that IMMA negotiates the space between modernist and postmodernist perspectives, necessitated by its own emerging status as a museum of modern art and the need to bring the arts community and the public with it, in its renegotiation of standing definitions of artist and non-artist. The physical display of the work refers to modernist principles - utilising uncluttered, well-lit, white spaces, with considerable spacing between works. The dialectical approach to programming refers to postmodernist principles - juxtaposition of artwork and contexts, use of texts and themes, all of which are intended to challenge and undermine assumptions. In this regard, IMMA's approach aims to mediate the way in which the work becomes familiar to the public and contributes to an informed discussion. Integration of work from the Outsider Art Collection in on-going exhibitions of work from IMMA's collection is intended to generate familiarity with the work based, primarily, on its formal and aesthetic aspects. This presents an opportunity for the viewer to reconsider assumptions about artwork created in an atypical context.
The loan of the Collection also has the potential to enhance the debate about outsider art. The location of such a large and significant outsider collection in a museum of modern art presents an unprecedented opportunity for the aesthetic, social, and ethical issues with regard to outsider art to be discussed in a wider context that engages both public and the mainstream arts discourse. The potential of this is for a more complex discussion about the role and relevance of outsider art and also the role of the mainstream, as it relates to outsider art.
1 The provision of space and materials for arts activities in such institutions was usually of the most basic kind. The purpose was recreational rather than therapeutic. Significantly, there are numerous examples where patients, who had no access to art materials resorted to alternative materials such as bread or sand. Historically, while the overall provision of opportunities to create in psychiatric institutions was limited, the scale of the Prinzhorn Collection suggests that there was a significant level of arts activity in even the most oppressive institutions. The collection includes approximately 5000 works from numerous psychiatric hospitals in central and Western Europe, collected over a 50-year period, spanning the turn of the century. For further discussion of the Prinzhorn Collection see
2 The argument in favour of the aesthetic autonomy of painting was promoted by Clement Greenberg, particularly in his essay 'Modernist Painting', 1965, (revised version), where he rejects the notion of art as a vehicle for social or political engagement. This view is further articulated by Ad Reinhardt, a painter, theoretician and teacher associated with the American Abstract Expressionists, who believed that only the formal aspects of the art work should be considered, completely separate from the context in which it is made. Brian O'Doherty provides a critique of the impact of these principles as they relate to the modernist art gallery with its provision of standardised white, sanitised, uncluttered spaces for the exhibition of art work in his book Inside the White Cube, San Francisco, The Lapis Press 1986.
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