Valid Art: creativity and affirmation

A new qualitative study, commissioned by Axisweb, focuses on how artists receive validation for their work outside of the ‘traditional’ gallery setting. I think this is particularly poignant for all artists including self-taught artists and those who are not or do not wish to be aligned with the gallery agenda. The researchers working on the study … Continue reading Valid Art: creativity and affirmation

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Brian Gibson: Fessing Up

Featured image: Agnes Richter, needlepoint jacket [notmodernart.tumblr.com] Following Brian Gibson's fantastic previous post, entitled 'What does it mean to be an Outsider?', he has written again for kdoutsiderart. This time, focusing on 'confessional' art. Here, her discusses whether artists who have experienced trauma or health issues feel 'obliged' to create art that is overtly confessional? … Continue reading Brian Gibson: Fessing Up

Pre-World War I: Primitivism, Nostalgia and the Rise of German Expressionism

German Expressionism was born out of the influence of a variety of earlier movements, styles and subject matter, and of course, through the discontent of many avant-garde artists with recent modernisation and the alienation of urban living. Paul Gauguin (1848 – 1903), a French Post-Impressionist, proved significantly influential on the works of German Expressionists. Gauguin … Continue reading Pre-World War I: Primitivism, Nostalgia and the Rise of German Expressionism

Social and Political Theories of Alienation and the Appearance of ‘Madness’

Germany, at the turn of the twentieth century saw major shifts from an agrarian economy to a modern industrial economy. Under Otto von Bismarck, who oversaw the unification of Germany in the late nineteenth century, the years 1870 until 1890 saw a huge period of transformation and an increase in Bourgeois power; these years were … Continue reading Social and Political Theories of Alienation and the Appearance of ‘Madness’

Introduction to the Links and Similarities Between German Expressionism and Outsider Art

I am going to begin a series that looks at the links and similarities between German Expressionism and Outsider Art particularly between the years of 1905 and 1945. This will include contextual factors, pre-world war one, the Weimar period and then finally, the Degenerate Art exhibition organised by the National Socialist Party in Germany. Here … Continue reading Introduction to the Links and Similarities Between German Expressionism and Outsider Art