What is Art Brut?

Works of Art Brut are created by self‑taught artists, carved out in a rebellious mindset or impermeable to collective norms and values, who create without concerning themselves with public criticism or the gaze of others. Without a need for recognition or approval, these individuals forge a universe for their own use. Their works, produced with generally unique means and materials, are free from influences derived from artistic tradition and employ distinctive modes of figuration.

The concept of Art Brut is credited to the French painter Jean Dubuffet. As early as 1945 he assembled a collection of objects created by psychiatric hospital residents, inmates, and original, solitary or condemned individuals. He perceives in this marginal creative work a "whole-pure, raw artistic operation, reinvented in its entirety across all its phases by its author, derived solely from his own impulses." The notion of Art Brut therefore rests on social characteristics and aesthetic particularities.

Definition of Art Brut by Jean Dubuffet

« We understand this [Art Brut] as works executed by people who are free from artistic culture, where mimetic influence – contrary to what occurs with intellectuals – has little or no role, so that their authors derive everything (subjects, choice of materials employed, means of transposition, rhythms, forms of writing, etc.) from their own foundation and not from clichés of classical art or fashionable art. We witness a purely pure, raw artistic operation reinvented in its entirety by its author through all its phases, based solely on his own impulses. This art manifests only the function of invention, and not the persistent roles of the chameleon and the monkey that are constant in cultural art.».

Jean Dubuffet, from Art Brut Preferred over Cultural Arts, Paris, Galerie René Drouin, 1949.

Works in the permanent collection

undefined Acrobates et bêtes fauves — ***Acrobates et bêtes fauves***, **Ratier, Emile**, 1968

undefined Les onze fleurs — ***Les onze fleurs***, **Wölfli, Adolf**, 1922

undefined Sans titre — ***sans titre***, **Forestier, Auguste**, not dated

undefined Montreuse de tableau dans la bannière de Montreux — ***Montreuse de tableau dans la bannière de Montreux (page de cahier, détail)***, **Corbaz, Aloïse** , 1941

Sources of information

Periodicals
Artension
Raw Vision
Gazogène
Folk Art Messenger
The Outsider

Blogs
Animula Vagula
The subtle dagger
Outsider Art Observatory
The CrAB blog (collective of reflection around Brut Art)
Outsider Art Magazine

Inventory
Computer catalogue of works from the Collection of Outsider Art

shop

Access the store

Publications on Art Brut

undefined Fascicule2 — **The Art Brut Fascicle N°02**, F002

The Art Brut Fascicle N°02

The Art Brut Fascicle N°02, 18 x 24 cm, 150 ill. black/white or color, about 160 pp. Since 1964 to 2013.In French. One fascicle CHF 30.-
Price Complete collection, 25 fascicles (N°2 - N°26) : CHF 720.-

undefined Guy brunet affiche 40 ans — **Special poster by Guy Brunet "40th anniversary"**, **Guy Brunet**, 70 x 70 cm ref F537

Special poster by Guy Brunet "40th anniversary"

undefined art brut swiss made — **Art Brut Swiss Made (EN)**, Version en anglais F684

Art Brut Swiss Made (EN)

Swiss Made, l’Art Brut en Suisse, sous la direction de Sarah Lombardi, Collection de l’Art Brut (Lausanne), 2018, disponible en Français, allemand, anglais et italien.