Ecrits d’art brut – graphomanes extravagants

Love or rage letters, poetic prayers, singular diaries, vehement pleas, delirious missives and grimoires, the writings of outsider art were created behind closed doors, in secrecy and silence. The vast majority are unaddressed or reserved for some dreamy or spiritual recipient. The manuscripts of the 30 authors gathered here are often strangely calligraphed, illuminated, embroidered, accompanied by paintings and drawings, but also hastily scribbled. Letters and words are frequently used for their visual and graphic values, and the rules of spelling and grammar are thrown into turmoil. Approached with casualness and inventiveness, writing finds a new breath and unfolds a wild poetry.

Unknown or even unknown, these “extravagant graphomaniacs” were discovered by Jean Dubuffet (Adolf Wölfli, Jeanne Tripier, Laure Pigeon, Carlo Zinelli) in the 1940s and 1970s, and others (Melvin Way, Fernando Nannetti, Charles Steffen) more recently. They come from several European countries (France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy) as well as from Brazil, Indonesia and the United States. Many of them are published in French for the first time.

30 authors: Noviadi Angkasapura, ArthurBispo Do Rosário, Giovanni Bosco, Gaspard Corpataux, Jean Crampilh, known as “Jeannot”, Samuel Daiber, Emma Hauck, Aimable Jayet, Johann Knopf known as “Knüpfer”, Marie Lieb, Gustav Mesmer, Heinrich Anton Müller, John B. Murray or Murry, Fernadno Oreste Nannetti, Teresa Ottallo, Laure Pigeon, Giovanni Battista Podestà, Justine Python, Agnes Richter, Armand Schulthess, Constance Schwartzlin-Berberat, Charles Steffen, Harald Stoffers, Barbara Suckfüll, Jeanne Tripier, Pascal Vonlanthen, August Walla, Melvin Way, Adolf Wölfli, and Carlo Zinelli, also known as Carlo.

130 works featured in the book come from some thirty museums as well as public and private collections in Europe, Brazil and the United States.