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[ ART ON BOARD ]
PURE CREATIVITY The great unconventional masters of Outsider Art, inspired by a spontaneous creative urgency far removed from the canons of official artistic culture, trends and fashion. A niche that is attracting increasing attention from galleries and collectors
To side, Bill Traylor, Red Man on Blue Horse with Dog, Christie’s New York, 2020. Opposite page, Berthe Coulon, Foule vert foncé, 1970, CABLausanne
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courtesy Christie’s New York
by Micaela Zucconi
Foto a destra in alto: ©AN - Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne
A
rt Brut, Outsider Art, Arte Irregolare – all labels for the
Switzerland, one of the world’s largest. This year the gallery is also
work of artists operating outside cultural norms, created
holding its fourth biennial exhibition. The British art historian
using a variety of expressive media – painting, architecture
Roger Cardinal introduced the term to the Anglo-Saxon world
and sculpture in a range of surprising materials. Exhibitions,
in his book Outsider Art, published in 1972, while the academic
dedicated museums and shows have all drawn attention to this
Bianca Tosatti coined the term Arte irregolare in 1997. Tosatti,
art form. The first to recognise its value was Jean Dubuffet (1901-
curator of exhibitions like Beyond Reason. The Figures, Masters
1985), in 1945. It was the French artist and collector who invented
and Stories of Arte irregolare (2006), has brought together over
the term Art Brut to describe work that is raw yet pure, because
30,000 works in the Fabio & Leo Cei collection at the Casa dell’Art
it flows from spontaneous artists who are not bound by market
Brut in Mairano di Casteggio (Pavia). Visits are by appointment,
demands and official artistic culture. They are self-taught, often
although it is planned to open the collection to the public this year.
suffer from psychiatric conditions or are alienated from wider
Collections outside Italy include Intuit. The Center for Intuitive
society. Sometimes they are eccentric individuals whose entire
and Outsider Art in Chicago, the American Visionary Art Museum
life is dedicated to an all-consuming obsession. Take, example, the
in Baltimore and the Outsider Art Museum in the Hermitage,
15,000 pages of “In the Realms of the Unreal” of Henry Darger in
Amsterdam. One striking example is the Museum of Everything, a
Chicago, Nek Chand’s Rock Garden in Chandigarh, India, or the
travelling exhibition by the British collector James Brett. In Italy the
Cathedral of Stones by Luigi Lineri, near Verona, Italy. Dubuffet’s
Museo della Follia, designed by Contemplazioni (Cesare Inzerillo,
collection forms the basis of the Art Brut Collection in Lausanne,
Sara Pallavicini, Giovanni Lettini and Stefano Morelli), curated 87
[ ART ON BOARD ] Courtesy Maroncelli 12 Gallery, Milano
To side, Dan Miller, Framed, 2013, Maroncelli 12 Gallery. Below, Ligabue, Leopardo, 1955, on display in Parma. Opposite page, above, Carlo Zinelli, Four green men and birds on yellow background, 1963, Coll. Oliana and Alessandro Zinelli, OAF Paris, 2020. Bottom, left, Leopold Strobl, Untitled, 2019, Ricco/ Maresca Gallery. Right, Paolo Baroggi, Porsche Carrera, 2000, Maroncelli 12 Gallery
by Italian art critic and art historian Vittorio Sgarbi, shows works in a variety of Italian venues. As the interest of collectors grows, auction prices soar sky high. At Christie’s New York on 17 January 2020 a work by Bill Traylor (1853-1949) went under the hammer for 507,000 dollars (454,632 euro). The collectors are American and European art dealers themselves, a situation made clear by the exhibition An Alternative Canon, Art Dealers Collecting Outsider Art, held a few months ago by the Andrew Fondazione Antonio Ligabue Parma
Edlin Gallery in New York, one of the most important galleries in this field. Andrew Edlin is also the owner of the Outsider Art Fair, an unmissable showcase with two annual events, one in New York and another in Paris. There are currently three outsider art galleries in Italy - Maroncelli12, in Milan, Rizomi in Parma and Gli Acrobati in Turin. The field became the focus of even greater public awareness in 2013 when Massimiliano Gioni, curator of the 55th Venice Biennial, welcomed outsider artists alongside the more recognised professionals. The Star, presented by The
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Museum of Everything, was the artist Carlo Zinelli (1916-1974).
the other in Ferrara (Palazzo dei Diamanti, Antonio Ligabue. Una
The list of the most famous outsider artists includes Antonio
vita d’artista, until 5th April). Finally, the Osservatorio Outsider
Ligabue (1899-1965), the tormented genius whose works are the
Art magazine headed by academic Eva Di Stefano is an important
subject of two exhibitions, one in Parma, (Palazzo Tarasconi,
source of information and background on art that falls outside the
Ligabue e Vitaloni. Dare voce alla natura, until 30th May) and
conventional canons.
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Courtesy Maroncelli 12 Gallery, Milano
Courtesy Ricco/Maresca Gallery
Collezione Olliana and Alessandro Zinelli