A publication of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art VOLUME 24
WINTER 2019
OUTSIDER
THE
THE OUTSIDER A
Outsider Art: The Collection of Victor F. Keen This exhibition is organized by Victor F. Keen and Bethany Mission Gallery (Philadelphia) in partnership with Sangre de Cristo Arts Center (Pueblo, Colo.) and Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art.
Martín Ramírez (American, 1895–1963). Untitled (Trains and Tunnels) A, B, (detail), c. 1960-63. Graphite, gouache, crayon and colored pencil on pieced paper, 17 x 78 in. (43.2 x 198.1 cm) Copyright Estate of Martín Ramírez
at Sangre de Cristo Arts Center: October 5, 2019-January 12, 2020 www.sdc-arts.org at Intuit: February 6-May 3, 2020 www.art.org
CONTRIBUTORS Lauren Boegen is executive director of operations and collections at the Design Museum of Chicago. Kenneth C. Burkhart is a fine art photographer and curator who served as curator of photography and curator of exhibitions at the Chicago Cultural Center before moving to Ithaca, N.Y. He has served as independent curator for more than 100 exhibitions. Patricia DuChene joined the John Michael Kohler Arts Center communications team in 2009. Prior to that, she wrote and edited content for the publisher of special-interest periodicals and books.
The Outsider 9
John Maizels is the founder of Raw Vision magazine, created in London in 1989 as a forum for the work of self-taught artists, whom he felt were overlooked and under-appreciated. John is the editor or author of several art books, including the Outsider Art Sourcebook and Raw Creation: Outsider Art and Beyond. Melissa Smith is the senior manager of learning and engagement at Intuit. She holds a bachelor’s in painting and drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a master’s in teaching from Roosevelt University. Melissa worked as a high school art teacher in Chicago and a teaching artist at various nonprofits. Lisa Stone is curator of the Roger Brown Study Collection and senior lecturer in the department of art history, theory and criticism, both at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her teaching, curating, research and writing concern artists from beyond the academic mainstream. An Intuit board member and frequent contributor to The Outsider, William Swislow is a digital business consultant, writer and operator of the cultural website interestingideas.com. Annaleigh Wetzel is the marketing and communications manager at Intuit, as well as The Outsider managing editor. Joshua Willis is a recent transplant to the Chicago area from Georgia, where he grew up surrounded by folk and outsider art. He is a member of the Intuit Young Professionals Board. Riley Yaxley is a graduate student in writing, rhetoric and discourse at DePaul University and works at the Art Institute of Chicago in development.
ADAPTED FROM A SPEECH BY JOHN MAIZELS
15 George Widener talks art, life and numbers
BY DEBRA KERR
21 Artists share perspectives
Debra Kerr is the executive director at Intuit. She is a frequent guest speaker on issues related to museum relevance, teen empowerment and activating the public for social good.
The genre's evolving landscape
BY JOSHUA WILLIS
24 Advocates, scholars and friends come together to Art Against the Flow
BY MELISSA SMITH WITH REFLECTIONS FROM KENNETH C. BURKHART AND LISA STONE
27 Urban and rural teachers learn from one another
BY ANNALEIGH WETZEL
28 New space to showcase remarkable spaces
BY PATRICIA DUCHENE
30 Intuit looks to the future with YoPros group
BY RILEY YAXLEY
31 Exhibitors join forces to encourage visitors to culture like a local
BY LAUREN BOEGEN
32 Book reviews
BY WILLIAM SWISLOW
ISBN 978-0-9990010-3-5 The Outsider is published once a year by Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, located at 756 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, IL 60642. Prior to Fall 1996, Volume 1, Issue 1, The Outsider was published as In’tuit. On the Front Cover: Detail: George Widener (American, b. 1962). Work in 8 Parts (one of eight), 2016. Ink on paper, 9 x 16 ½ in. (22.8 x 40.9 cm) each. Collection of Victor F. Keen. On the Back Cover: Detail: George Widener (American, b. 1962). Magic Circles, 2017. Mixed media on joined paper, 39 x 39 in. (99.1 x 99.1 cm). Collection of Victor F. Keen.
THE OUTSIDER 1
BE INSPIRED
DEFINE YOUR LEGACY
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4 THE OUTSIDER
INTUIT REINFORCES ITS INTERNATIONAL ROLE AS OUTSIDER ART ADVOCATE
As I write this, I am returning to Chicago after participating in
On the way back to Chicago, I stopped at the Outsider Art Fair
the opening of Chicago Calling: Art Against the Flow (or, in this
Paris. While attending a fair-sponsored film screening event,
case, Gegen den Strich: Chicago Calling) at the Kunsthaus
a gentleman sitting in front of me asked some questions about
Kaufbeuren, a contemporary art museum in Bavaria, about an
the genre during the Q&A session, expressing his enthusiasm
hour outside Munich. This is the second opening of Intuit’s
and mentioning he had recently been introduced to outsider
traveling exhibition I’ve been honored to attend this year, the
art. As the event broke up, I introduced myself to him.
first being in Paris at Halle Saint Pierre, under the name Chicago:
It turned out his introduction was through Intuit’s exhibit at
Foyer d’Art Brut, in March for a run that extended to August.
Halle Saint Pierre—his first exposure to outsider art. This story repeated itself throughout the weekend, as I met new people
Of the 46 exhibitions in Art Design Chicago, the city-wide,
and shared the travel schedule with gallerists and attendees to
2018 initiative by the Terra Foundation for American Art
the fair. The Paris audience was excited by the 10 artists
with presenting partner the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation,
in our exhibition. I am proud of what Intuit has accomplished,
Intuit’s is one of only two that traveled (the other by the
with the help of members, supporters, board, advisors and staff!
mighty Art Institute of Chicago) and the only one to travel to Europe. Two venues remain.
What’s next? Intuit is planning a major renovation within the next two years to transform its physical space to meet the
After closing at Kunsthaus Kaufbeuren on January 26, the
requirements of a 21st-century museum: fully accessible,
show travels to the Collection de l’Art Brut in Lausanne
modern air handling to care for the growing collection, new
(March 13-August 30, 2020) and the Outsider Art Museum
galleries to exhibit that growing collection, a visually-welcoming
in Amsterdam (October 7, 2020-May 24, 2021).
façade—all while staying true to its traditions of ground-breaking special exhibitions, exemplary teacher development and
Please consider joining Intuit for a tour of art and outsider
transformative audience programs. Please reach out to me for
venues in the Netherlands and Belgium in October 2020.
any suggestions, questions and dialogue.
I’ve been in conversation with gallerists in Lausanne and Rotterdam, two curators from Belgium, and our partners in the Netherlands to put together a fantastic tour.
Photos by Katherine Gorman and Cheri Eisenberg.
— DEBRA KERR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
THE OUTSIDER 5
CARLO ZINELLI RECTO VERSO
Avenue des Bergières 11 CH – 1004 Lausanne Switzerland
www.artbrut.ch
2020
January 16 –19, 2020 Metropolitan Pavillion 125 West 18th Street NYC outsiderartfair.com
09.19.2019 02.02.2020
COLLECTION DE L’ART BRUT LAUSANNE
Get arTsy T H E S H E B OYGA N WAY
THE OUTSIDER 7
The first edition of Raw Vision 1989.
8 THE OUTSIDER
THE GENRE'S EVOLVING LANDSCAPE ADAPTED FROM A SPEECH BY JOHN MAIZELS
Raw Vision Magazine, the quintessential international publication
that things could be crude and, at the same time, really exciting.
for the field of outsider art and art brut, published its 100th
In my own life, the first thing I found was Roger Cardinal’s
issue in 2019. To honor the vision of its founder and publisher,
book in 1972, called Outsider Art. That book became my
John Maizels, Intuit presented him with its 2019 Visionary
bible, really. Within the next few years I traveled all around
Award. John sat down with Intuit Board and Young Professionals
Europe, looking at the places he’d had in his book. I went first
Board members and staff to talk about Raw Vision and his
to the Palais Idéal, which is huge. It’s a sculpture or a building
personal journey with this remarkable field of art.
you walk through. It’s just extraordinary—30 years of work one man made. And it’s a humbling experience to go and see these things. I went to see the Wölfli books in big vaults in
Encountering outsider art
Bern, massive books with huge binders. You can’t understand how anyone can do these things. The pure sensationalism of
Most of us have seen work that is outside the normal confines.
outsider art really got me going on it. There was no other art,
My first thing, for example: I used to travel a lot as a student
there was nothing like that. The environments, they can’t be
around the Middle East. I used to buy roughly-made prints of
collected, they can’t be bought. You have to make the effort to
Islamic writing and subjects. Those were my first realizations
go there and just absorb it.
THE OUTSIDER 9
I was lucky my parents lived in Switzerland, and I could see the Collection de l’Art Brut, which opened in 1976. It was
The magazine’s beginnings and early influence
very early on. That was an incredible experience. When I first went there, I spent about four days and made my own
In those days, the whole scene was split up completely. In
guidebook about the museum, because I was so amazed with
America, there was a little booklet called Folk Art Finder.
it. The whole idea was it was an anti-museum. It had black
Everything was called folk—even Adolf Wölfli was called folk
walls instead of white walls. The works were spot lit and stood
art. Gradually that’s completely disappeared. No one says
away from the walls. That really gave me inspiration. I kept on
folk art any more [about this]. It is very strange how those
talking about outsider art to everyone and going mad about it,
things developed.
and no one knew what I was talking about. I gradually came to the idea: Well, why don’t I do a magazine about it?
I think Raw Vision was the first [to] actually link up the two sides of the Atlantic—it became so good because it put people in touch. The Collection de l’Art Brut could be in touch with Americans, and eventually maybe it helped the Collection de l’Art Brut, because they did bring work here to [America to] exhibit, which before that no work was even allowed outside the museum to be shown. It was very, very strict—the whole Dubuffet ethos is very strict. Dubuffet’s idea was that any of his work in his collection, if it was shown anywhere else, would be devalued, would be affected, polluted by any ordinary art. He wanted to keep it completely separate. But over the years, I hope Raw Vision helped. What I tried to do is make a very good quality production. I didn’t really want to do a fanzine. It had to stand up to any other art [publication]. My wife, Maggie, is a graphic designer, and her brother, David Jones, is a graphic designer, who was a senior lecturer at St. Martin’s. When he heard we were doing this, he wanted to help. The original logo he designed was his take on outsider typography. He specialized in designing British railway timetables—he designed all the timetables in the land. So he really liked abstract blocks of grey. You’ll notice in those early editions, they’re hard to read, because the type is so tiny. But that’s what he likes—seeing it all in the abstract. Those days, of course, was way before computers. Every page had to be pasted up. If there was a spelling mistake, Maggie
Maizels collected this Islamic print depicting magic squares in Afghanistan in 1965.
came in with a scalpel—she was really good at putting an E where the A was. They’re all handmade, those early ones. Originally, we wanted to use French as well, because French was the language of art brut. So every article was in English and French, both. And then we produced an entirely French edition. In those days the printing was made with film. You had CMYK [cyan, magenta, yellow, black] film. You could actually
10 THE OUTSIDER
If you can ask people with collections to let you have a look at their collections, it’s most interesting, because the collectors can know more than everyone else, because they’re living with the art. You can’t know a picture, unless it’s on your own wall. If you see a picture every day, like a collector can, they’ll know more about it than anyone.
Definitions and boundaries When I started, I believed in art brut and was very strict about it. But then, for the magazine, it gets a bit ridiculous to be that dogmatic. So many things drop between the two fields of genuine art brut and contemporary art. And that field of self-taught has grown since then. Raw Vision has reflected a lot of that. Of course, there have to be boundaries, but all the boundaries— unless you’re going to take that strict art brut standard—are going to be difficult. If you’ve got a stone, and you throw it in the water, you get rings coming around. Right in the middle, that’s the white heat, that’s absolute art brut, that’s your Hauser, Outsider Art, by Roger Cardinal, published in 1972, became Maizels's bible.
that’s Wölfli, that’s Darger, right there in the center. And, as the ripples go out, it goes a bit further away and a bit further away. Some people are quite happy to have the ripples out there and others [see them] a little bit closer. There is no law;
just change the K film for a different language, as long as the
it’s just personal.
text was printed in black. Eventually we dropped the French, because we weren’t selling so many in French[-speaking places].
It’s essential to study and realize what art brut is, because it
We were quite relieved at the end just to stick to English.
can get lost easily and become another ripple. You have to have
[French] was a massive extra amount of work and expense,
that solid core and know what it means. [Artist Jean] Dubuffet
and it was just for ideological reasons, really.
saw art brut as a sort of beacon as something to try and achieve. You can see the influence today of outsider and art brut in contemporary art [as] a beacon to many, many
Collecting outsider art
contemporary artists.
In those days, the late ’80s, you could go to an art gallery, and on the wall there would be framed, typed bits of paper. That
Today’s issues
wasn’t very exciting. I think conceptualism reached a rock bottom of total boredom. At exactly the same point, my interest
The hardest issues, I think, [are] dilution and absorption.
in outsider art began. You can see why. I got bitten, and
Those are the two big dangers. Dilution, because there’s so
eventually I did start buying things. Outsider art was very, very
many people who are found who are outsider artists, and
cheap. It still is possible for young people to buy—for £100
absorption, because the contemporary art world can swallow
or $100 you can still buy an original piece of art by someone
it up. It’s happening just purely because of financial reasons.
whose name is known.
There [are] certain artists now whose work is drifting into the
THE OUTSIDER 11
Nek Chand's Rock Garden in Chandigarh, India, is a site of special interest to John Maizels.
price ranges of contemporary art. Therefore, the market is
you say to someone, “no, you're not really an outsider”? [When
responding to it in a different way. Whereas before you had
they say,] “You know, I haven’t been to college, I haven’t
very specialist galleries just devoted to this, you’re now finding
been to school.” It’s difficult. In many ways, it’s wonderful,
contemporary galleries using it as contemporary art, because
and in many ways that makes it more difficult. That’s the
it’s the same price as what’s on the wall. To me, that [causes
endless paradox.
the genre to] lose a little bit of its power, because the people who are hanging it are involved in it because of its price.
Future of the genre Here in the States the museums have reacted so wonderfully with these huge exhibitions and retrospectives of the best
Even though culture is all-pervasive now for us, you can’t have
artists of the highest fields. In terms of scholarship, [it’s]
the same [type of artists] totally on the road in the middle of
wonderful. We’re seeing the same thing in mainland Europe
nowhere, isolated, never [having] seen anything. They’re not
but not in Britain. General art museums in Holland and
culture free, but the culture they’re exposed to isn’t necessarily
Germany, Austria and Switzerland have the big exhibitions.
a culture that can prevent them from being open and
In Vienna, Flying High: Women of Art Brut was a huge
completely unique.
recent exhibition. I was in Belgrade, and someone stuck all these pictures all Raw Vision, itself, is suffering because of the advancement
over these trees, hundreds of pictures. And they haven’t even
of this field. We used to have monopoly over [this] sort of art,
found out who the person is. This person got very involved,
and now it is in every art magazine. People can see [it] all
real art brut pictures, with writing all over them. He doesn’t
over the place, they can look at it, and it hasn’t got the
show them to anyone, but he goes out at night and sticks
context anymore. But it’s there. And everyone thinks they
them on trees, so people can see them. It happens, there’s
know what outsider art is. We get messages every day from
nothing to stop it.
people saying they’re outsider artists, every day. And how do
12 THE OUTSIDER
Challenges for the art and artists today The whole Nek Chand story is insane and bizarre. How did this lowly worker end up with 40 acres of government land [in Chandigarh, India], surrounded by huge walls, with over 2,000 statues with waterfalls and amphitheaters and things like that? Thousands and thousands of people every day crammed in. They pay, I think, five rupees to go in, but, because so many people go, the income last year was [a substantial amount]. And, yet, they don't spend that on looking after the Rock Garden; no one knows where that money goes. It’s a difficult one.
John and Maggie Maizels at the launch of Raw Vision #4 Paris in 1991.
Ben Wilson built that big wooden chapel [at the American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore], and he also paints on gum
library in the east end of London. And all that work is still in
on the streets. He’s painted hundreds and hundreds of little
their possession. And they did have it in a big warehouse in
miniature paintings. He paints paintings for people—say, they
East London. You could make an appointment to go, and it
just got married, [or he paints] the picture of someone [who’s]
took hours and hours to see it. There were hundreds of boxes,
died—and they are all on gum. He used to paint on billboards,
huge calico drawings, extraordinary, probably worth millions.
like car advertisements, painting pictures of flowers all over
And now they’ve had to sell the building. All that work is in
them to make it pretty and look nicer. But he kept getting
[what] used to be a nuclear bunker in Oxfordshire. If she was
arrested for this. The worst thing was he was being chased
American or from Chicago, there would be a huge Madge Gill
by police [through] people’s back gardens. Eventually he had
museum here [in Chicago]. It’s quite extraordinary.
to go to court, and they said, “Look, if you paint over these billboards again, you’re going to go to jail.” He didn’t know
I think in America, you have much more real respect for your
what to do. He was wanting to beautify his environment. So
own people. Whereas in England, there isn’t the same respect;
he started painting on gum. Of course, he was arrested right
Britain is a very hierarchical sort of place. At the top we have
away. He said that gum does not belong to the local council—
the country houses full of Renaissance paintings [worth]
gum was spat out by local residents. [Now,] as long as he
millions of pounds each. You get down to people making folk
does it straight on the gum, he is allowed.
art or, you know, someone who’s schizophrenic or something, it is just the base [of the pyramid] and is ignored. A very poor
There are quite a few areas of Muswell Hill, North London,
guy in a shack in Alabama painting a picture, that is
where he lives [where the gum can be found], and they are
American folk art, and you’re proud of that. I think that’s one
like little jewels all over the side walk. Quite extraordinary. He
of the wonderful things about America.
used to do these huge big wooden statues made of wood, again, as beautification, but always in public locations. He built this sleeping giant, made just [of] bits of wood altogether,
Receiving the Visionary Award from Intuit
but, of course, it all got vandalized, it all got destroyed. So he is really pleased with the chewing gum, because it is working
(The night of the event, John had laryngitis.) I‘d just like to
well. People step on them, but he renovates them all the time.
say how sorry I am I wasn’t able to deliver my little speech the
He has a special blowtorch that melts the gum first, and then
other night. I was just glad that Edward [Gómez] was there.
he puts the enamel paint into the melted gum.
He did a really good job—even though wrong accent. I’m quite humbled by you asking me here for that award,
Madge Gill is our most famous British outsider artist. When
and it’s something I’ll always remember. Thank you very, very
she died in the 1960s, she donated all her work to a local
much, indeed. ■
THE OUTSIDER 13
George Widener (American, b. 1962). Megalopolis 789, 2011. Mixed media on joined paper, 66 x 55 in. (167.6 x 139.7 cm). Collection of Victor F. Keen. 14 THE OUTSIDER
GEORGE WIDENER TALKS ART, LIFE AND NUMBERS BY DEBRA KERR
On Feb. 6, 2020, Outsider Art: The Collection of Victor F. Keen
in my family with classic autism, but I just had some learning
opens at Intuit, traveling from the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center
disability, and then I was considered a talented child in a
in Pueblo, Colo., and featuring more than 50 artworks from
couple of areas.
artists such as George Widener, Martín Ramírez, Lee Godie and James Castle. Intuit Executive Director Debra Kerr talked
DK: What areas?
with artist George Widener about his life, creative process and inclusion in this significant exhibition.
GW: Anything to do, generally, with memory, and I’ve even lost some of the ability as I’ve gotten older, and doctors say
Debra Kerr: George, you’ve got this incredible mathematical
that’s because, as your brain matures, it sort of diversifies.
talent that informs your art. When did you realize you had
I was, as a child, just very focused on these particular things,
that talent?
but, as you get older and you mature, in my case, I was able to sort of diversify and multitask. And, in the ’80s, because
George Widener: Ever since I was a child, I did certain things.
of circumstances, I just sort of retreated to my numbers.
It’s not really a calculation or a particular mathematical rule or
To me, they’re not cold mathematical things; they have certain
anything that I’m using, I’m just able to do it sort of by
emotions attached to them.
alignment in my head in a certain way. There were some people
THE OUTSIDER 15
George Widener (American, b. 1962). Work in 8 Parts (two of eight), 2016. Ink on paper, 9 x 16 ½ in. (22.8 x 40.9 cm) each. Collection of Victor F. Keen. 16 THE OUTSIDER
DK: Give me some examples of what you might draw
DK: Now we know that many people who served suffer
from memory.
from PTSD.
GW: I was able to see things, and then they’d later on pop up
GW: Yeah, I’ve been evaluated in recent years by the [Veterans
in my head, and I’d draw them from memory, some of which
Administration], and they’re defining it as general anxiety
I can do today, some of which I cannot do today, because,
disorder or possible depression, or adjustment disorder, but
again, I’m not like I was as a child, but I’m able to draw from
I’ve also had a number of stressor events in the service. Eight
memory. I was big on drawing landscapes, like trees, as a child.
different events. And I did a good job when I was in the service;
And I got a lot of attention, because I’d see something in a
I never had any problems. Then I got out, and I think there was
book, and I wouldn’t draw exactly that, but I’d draw something
some delayed reaction.
that was like it. And they’d ask, “how can you do that,” and I’d say “it’s just relaxing, it just feels good to do it.” Memories [are]
DK: Was it during this time that you began drawing
a big part of my work.
more regularly?
DK: That’s interesting. Can you tell me a bit more about
GW: I got out in November ’84, and I started school in January
emotion in your work?
1985, but, in 1986, I started to have severe stress problems and was hospitalized. And, then, when I became homeless,
GW: Well, like a lot of people, I’ve had my struggles, but, in
I started to keep my notebooks, and I made lists and did
1986, I had a nervous breakdown of sorts, and I was put into a
drawings, and it was all for myself. It was just my way of finding
hospital until the spring of 1987, and then I got out, and I was
something that meant something to me. I even stopped showing
homeless for a while. And I just started sort of regressing and
it to anybody, the people at the shelter, because I had so many
becoming very isolated and would go to the library and just be
notebooks that I was carrying around in a backpack, and they’d
by myself. I was staying in some park, and I gradually started
say, “oh, you got too much stuff, what is all this stuff,” and so it
retreating to my dates and my notebooks during that time, as a
became sort of secretive. And then I went over to Europe and
sort of way to make sense of life.
worked a little bit, some odd jobs, but I continued drawing and keeping my notebooks with the dates and numbers, and
DK: How does that timing relate to when you were in
I invented my system.
the military? DK: What else should we know about this time? GW: I was in the service from 1980 to 1984. I was overseas in West Germany. I was in a unit that was involved in what’s called
GW: Perhaps that I lived overseas quite a bit. I was on the
aerial reconnaissance or aerial photography during the Cold
streets overseas several times, and it was a very strong
War. I was a technician, and there was a lot of pressure to get
experience. [Readers] might find that interesting because it’s
things right. For example, the Poland crisis of 1981. They were
different. I would work a landscaping job or something like that,
trying to get information about whether or not the Russians were
and I’d save up seven or eight hundred dollars, and I’d just get
amassing troops against Poland, when they were doing their
a ticket and go. I’d land over there with fifty dollars. Today,
strike of solidarity movement. We did the photography, and it
I wouldn’t do it. But I was younger, and, it’s a little crazy, but
went to the White House, and they were able to tell the Poles,
I did it. I just didn’t want to stay in some of the places where
“well, no, these guys are bluffing, they’re not going to attack
I was. I just didn’t feel comfortable, and, so I thought, I’m going
you, so you can continue with the strike.” I witnessed a helicopter
to go to London, and it had a sense of adventure you know?
crash in 1982, where 45 people died, and I experienced a car
And that’s a different sort of circumstance from some of the
bomb at Ramstein Air Base in 1981. I was nearby when it went
other classic outsiders—where they’re just in one spot for 50
off, and 20 people were injured. I got out of the service, and I
years. So it is different.
didn’t adjust well, partly as a result of my military service.
THE OUTSIDER 17
George Widener (American, b. 1962). Untitled, 2012. Ink and paint on joined paper, 8 ½ x 14 ½ in. (21.6 x 36.8 cm). Collection of Victor F. Keen.
DK: George, I know that one of the themes that comes into your
DK: We’re really looking forward to having Victor’s collection
art on a recurring basis is the Titanic.
here at Intuit and his George Widener works here. You have a lot of fans in Chicago. What inspires you today?
GW: Well, I’m a possible distant relative of the famous Wideners of Philadelphia. As a teenager I happened to be looking at a
GW: I’m exploring new things, and I’m wanting to draw some of
passenger list of the Titanic, and I found my name, George
my past, perhaps. I’ve thought of drawing from memory some
Widener. Wow! That gets your attention. And I think there was
of my military experiences, but I’m also continuing on with
an element about disasters after I saw that helicopter crash in
my dates and numbers investigations, and I’ve become more
Mannheim, Germany.
aware of contemporary art. [Gallerist] Frank [Maresca] called it a crossover, somebody that was an outsider of sorts, but they’re
DK: Tell me a little bit about your life now.
no longer. But I’m not an insider. I’ve done the things I did, because I had an obsession to do them in the past, and today
GW: I don’t call myself an outsider artist anymore. My belief
I do them for myself, but, of course, my circumstances have
is that, from roughly 1986 until 1994, I was what you’d call a
changed, because people have seen my work, and they know
classic outsider, and then things started changing some for
what I’m about. But I’m still the same person that’s doing this
me. I’m just a self-taught person that does my things, but they
stuff that I like, but it’s wonderful that I’m able to have a
evolved, and I’ve evolved, and my circumstances are different
certain sense of purpose with regards to other people instead
from the past.
of just doing it for myself. I’m happy that people find my work interesting. ■
18 THE OUTSIDER
George Widener (American, b. 1962). Magic Circles, 2017. Mixed media on joined paper, 39 x 39 in. (99.1 x 99.1 cm). Collection of Victor F. Keen. THE OUTSIDER 19
Jerry’s Map on view at Intuit. Photo by Cheri Eisenberg.
20 THE OUTSIDER
ARTISTS SHARE PERSPECTIVES BY JOSHUA WILLIS
As Henry Darger lay dying in a Chicago nursing home in early
In sharp contrast are the opportunities to learn from living
1973, his landlords made a shocking find: their tenant’s
self-taught artists. The artists Intuit exhibited in 2019 are
enormous body of work, decades in the making, hidden away in
living and producing work, and Intuit sought to explore the
his one-room apartment. This well-known story is not unique
boundaries of the definition of outsider by exploring their
in the field of outsider art. Posthumous discoveries happened
unique viewpoints and approaches to artmaking. I spoke
before Darger and continue today—James Hampton in 1964,
with self-taught artists Tracy Crump, Jerry Gretzinger and
Felipe Jesus Consalvos in 1983 and, more recent, Larry Lewis
Robert Johnson to get their thoughts on Intuit, outsider art
and Bernard Gilardi—creating mysteries for which discoverers
and the genre’s future.
face the daunting task of piecing together the intentions of artists who can no longer speak for themselves. Even for those
All three artists consider themselves self-taught. For Crump
artists who were discovered while living but near the ends
and Gretzinger, this fact has a positive impact on their work.
of their lives, their histories and motivations continue to be
Gretzinger’s work was showcased in Jerry’s Map, which features
researched and discussed without access to the artists.
portions of his imaginary-world map—composed of 3,600
THE OUTSIDER 21
individual 8 x 10” panels—and he sees himself as a natural
Regardless of their views on terminology, both Gretzinger and
contrarian who does not like to follow rules, a trait aided by
Johnson think Intuit and institutions like it perform a necessary
his lack of formal training. “I’m not constricted by any formal
role in the art world. “Intuit is needed by providing space to
notions of what you can or cannot do,” said Gretzinger. “I can
show work that wouldn’t normally be shown and acknowledge
draw anything; I can mix paint any way I want to; I can use the
artistic talent,” said Johnson. “There aren’t a lot of places for
brush how I want to.”
‘non-inside artists’ to be shown on a professional level.”
Crump, who had several of her portraits of multi-racial women
For Gretzinger, the importance of Intuit and similar museums
included in This Stillness, curated by emerging curator Jamillah
and interested galleries lies not only in the works they
Hinson, and a work included in 2016’s Post Black Folk Art in
showcase, but the influence they have on once-hostile
America, 1930-1980-2016, chose to forgo attending art school.
institutions to expand their definitions of art. “So much [of] what
“Art classes or school may be right for other artists, [but] I
is shown at institutions like Intuit would never have been
realized it was not for me…that it would have a certain influence
shown at all if it weren’t for those institutions,” said Gretzinger.
and completely change the direction of my work.”
“And [major mainstream institutions] wouldn’t be waking up to what’s out there.”
One of the two artists in a recent pop-up show Creative Impulse: Works by Robert Johnson and E. Nix, curated by Post Black’s
Isolation from the mainstream art world may be more rare in
Faheem Majeed, painter Robert Johnson stated that artists are,
a world increasingly connected by the internet. Crump and
by the nature of the work, self-taught to some extent. “I think
Johnson have their theories on the genre's evolution in the
all artists, up to a certain point, if they go to school or not, are
coming years. For Crump, the proliferation of technology will
constantly teaching [themselves] new things,” said Johnson,
be a boon to self-taught artists who will not have to rely on the
though he added that being self-taught “doesn’t really affect
whims of mainstream art galleries. “Many artists can be seen
my work.”
now because of technology,” said Crump. “People can’t be shut
out any more when galleries say, ‘your art isn’t good enough.’”
None of them particularly identified with the term outsider or its
Artists, outsider or otherwise, are here to stay in Johnson’s view.
variants. “I think that [labels] are hindering,” said Gretzinger.
“There’s always going to be somebody slinging some paint…
“I sometimes refer to myself as an ‘accidental artist.’” Johnson
cutting up some wood,” he said. “It’s just like breathing, as long
sees himself as “just an artist.” However, Crump took some
as we exist, [this art] will exist.” ■
time to absorb the terminology. “Initially, I was turned off by the term outsider. But when you look at the great and unique artists that have captivated our hearts or interest, both living and those who have transitioned, they were not part of what's common. They definitely did not fit in. And I don't fit in. Part of my life purpose as an artist is to break some traditions and the mold. So, to me, it's possible outsider is a term that could be embraced.”
22 THE OUTSIDER
Top: Artworks by Tracy Crump (left), Vanessa German (middle) and Judy Bowman (right) in This Stillness at Intuit. Bottom: Creative Impulse: Works by Robert Johnson and E. Nix on view at Intuit. Photos by Cheri Eisenberg.
ADVOCATES, SCHOLARS AND FRIENDS COME TOGETHER TO ART AGAINST THE FLOW
Intuit’s Art Against the
Each day of Summit programming was attended by 100-plus
Flow Summit—a three-
guests from around the world. Early sessions, such as Summit
day academic symposium
Meet and Greet, Keynote Address and Summit Kickoff, and
consisting of lectures,
Chicago and Self-Taught Art, provided macro-level context and
panel discussions, optional
introduced major Summit themes to be explored. Subsequent
ticketed programs and
sessions, such as Chicago We Own It: Style and Sensibility
networking opportunities—
in Chicago Collections, Artists of our Time, and Future of
took place November 1-3,
the Genre: What’s Next?, offered in-depth discussions on
2018, at Intuit and Ace
Chicago’s unique collecting culture, the personal and social
Hotel Chicago.
aspects of contemporary self-taught artists’ processes, and how the market has impacted the representation of
Presented in conjunction with Intuit’s exhibition Chicago
non-mainstream artists. More than 40 guests attended optional
Calling: Art Against the Flow and accompanying catalog, the
Summit programs such as Chicago Collections Crawl and
Summit centered Chicago as a major site of robust recognition
Roger Brown Study Collection Open House.
and early acceptance of outsider art. The Summit served as an important contribution to the Terra Foundation’s Art Design
The Summit engaged the broader outsider art community
Chicago initiative—a citywide collaboration of Chicago cultural
through sessions such as the opportunity to revisit Jean
organizations exploring Chicago’s art and design legacy
Dubuffet’s renowned 1951 “Anti-Cultural Positions” lecture
through exhibitions and programming.
at the Arts Club of Chicago and Beyond Chicago: Place Influencing Artists and Artists Influencing Place. Amid
Engaging 28 speakers across eight sessions, the Summit
expanded and evolving field-wide dialogue regarding the
bolstered the city’s art historical significance through exploring
direction of the genre, the Summit provided an opportunity to
the unique cultural conditions that attracted and supported
further strengthen Intuit’s position as an international center
non-mainstream artists. The Summit provided a forum for
for self-taught art.
various constituents of outsider art—artists, educators, curators, dealers, collectors, students and appreciators—
A free online archive of session recordings and images from
to expand their knowledge of the genre, explore Chicago’s
Intuit’s Art Against the Flow Summit can be accessed at art.
historical contributions to art and design, participate in
org/art-against-the-flow-summit. The catalog for Chicago
conversations about the intersection of place and art/artist,
Calling: Art Against the Flow can be accessed at art.org/shop
and build partnerships with professionals in the field.
or by emailing intuit@art.org. ■
24 THE OUTSIDER
— MELISSA SMITH
Top: Works by Drossos Skyllas and Joseph Yoakum installed in Intuit’s Chicago Calling: Art Against the Flow exhibition. Bottom: Works by Dr. Charles Smith, William Dawson and Henry Darger installed in Intuit’s Chicago Calling: Art Against the Flow exhibition. Photos by Cheri Eisenberg. THE OUTSIDER 25
Artists Dr. Charles Smith, Faheem Majeed, Marvin Tate and Della Wells on the Artists of Our Time panel kept Summit audiences riveted with their passion for their artistic practice. Photo by Cheri Eisenberg.
Summit reflections
where artists can penetrate into the mainframe. There was an established receptivity to non-mainstream expressions
Lisa Stone: Chicago Calling came about when Intuit was
in Chicago.
exploring exhibition possibilities to propose to Art Design Chicago. I knew Intuit had to be a player in this phenomenal
KB: It was immensely gratifying to bring the artists into
initiative, and I knew I had to work with inspired curator Ken
aesthetic and conceptual conversations with each other,
Burkhart, who agreed without hesitation!
by creating tableaux of works organized around themes. We didn’t want to trot out another show of artists’ works in
Kenneth C. Burkhart: To work with Lisa Stone on this
isolated groupings but, rather, to present expressions of similar
incredible project was an honor not to be missed! We decided
impulses by artists who worked in different eras, media
early on to create the exhibition showcasing Chicago artists
and contexts. Through this approach, we pay homage to the
of exceptional originality who worked outside of the academic
individual significance of each of the artworks as well,
mainframe. Winnowing possibilities down to 10—what we
something often lost in a presentation in which each artist’s
felt was a workable number––was challenging. Some very
work is grouped together.
important artists couldn’t be included, due to space considerations and our commitment to a coherent curatorial
LS & KB: We loved workshopping these concepts through the
premise.
Art Against the Flow Summit, expertly organized by Intuit’s staff. Personally, we were blown away by the phenomenal
LS: With the exception of Henry Darger, the artists had
session moderated by Faheem Majeed and presented by
interacted with Chicago artists and art enthusiasts. They didn’t
artists Marvin Tate, Della Wells and Dr. Charles Smith, who
perform in an “outsider” realm but were engaged with the
performed pure passion and straight soul––they completely
cultural community on very inventive terms. This inventiveness
stole the show. They validated and elevated our premise for
was fundamental to our curatorial premise. Individually and
Chicago Calling as alive and living in the present time. ■
collectively, these artists helped define Chicago as a place — KENNETH C. BURKHART AND LISA STONE
26 THE OUTSIDER
URBAN AND RURAL TEACHERS LEARN FROM ONE ANOTHER
of a cross-institutional collaboration in the implementation of professional development programming for teachers, focused on the implications for unique geographical populations, classroom practice and the importance of nurturing educators' creative practices. “Art teachers seldom have the opportunity to participate in sustained, concentrated hands-on professional arts learning alongside a group of peers from outside their own schools and Teacher Retreat participants and lead facilitators pose in front of Grandview artist Nick Engelbert’s home and house museum. Image courtesy of Melissa Smith.
geographic regions. Rarer still is the opportunity to engage in this type of learning within the context of an artist-built environment,” Melissa Smith, Intuit's senior manager of learning and engagement, said. “Both institutions’ education
Through a partnership with the John Michael Kohler Arts
departments recognized the potential for this program to
Center (JMKAC) and funding from a generous Intuit
positively impact art teachers’ pedagogy and decided to
member, Intuit and JMKAC staff led five teachers from urban
leverage our partnership to provide an opportunity for
Chicago and five teachers from rural Wisconsin through an
independent and collaborative teacher learning in a new and
information-sharing, lesson plan-building retreat. The program
exciting way. We also recognized that many art teachers are
focused on art-making and lesson plan development while
artists themselves, but often they do not have the time to
teachers worked at Nick Engelbert's Grandview outsider art
nurture their own artistic practice. So, when developing the
environment in southern Wisconsin.
retreat program, we were intent on building in ways for educators to reconnect with their own creative practice.” ■
The retreat's main goal was to allow for a creative exchange between rural and urban art teachers using outsider and
— ANNALEIGH WETZEL
self-taught art as a catalyst for the classroom, drawing upon the materials, methodologies, works and environments of outsider and self-taught artists. This was the first project of its kind on which JMKAC and Intuit joined forces, so it was a pilot
THE OUTSIDER 27
NEW SPACE TO SHOWCASE REMARKABLE SPACES
the artists’ work through curated, visible storage of the works of art, an education area, library and study collection that provide access to the collection for researchers and visitors. To honor the singular nature of the collection, the Art Preserve will be organized by environment, as opposed to by discrete object, thus retaining integral relationships between components and honoring the full story of an art environment’s original site. Twelve artists’ work will be represented with tableaux evoking Emery Blagdon, The Healing Machine (installation view at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, 2017), c. 1955–86; wood, metal paint and mixed media. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection, gift of Kohler Foundation, Inc. Photo courtesy of John Michael Kohler Arts Center.
the character of the original environments; those artists are Levi Fisher Ames, Emery Blagdon, Loy Bowlin, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, Nek Chand, Annie Hooper, Mary Nohl, Dr. Charles Smith, Fred Smith, Lenore Tawney, Stella Waitzkin
Artist-built environments are the focal point of a new, $40 million
and Ray Yoshida.
facility being built by the John Michael Kohler Arts Center on 38 acres in Sheboygan, Wisc., and scheduled to open
As the only facility of its kind, the Art Preserve will be a dynamic
Aug. 30, 2020. The world’s first facility devoted to the presentation
site of discussions, think-tanks and workshops dedicated to the
and study of artist-built environments, the Art Preserve’s
conservation, preservation and presentation of artist-built
56,000-square-foot, three-level building will provide exhibition
environments, while supporting scholarship, experimentation
space and storage for more than 25,000 works.
and innovative approaches to collections management. Partnerships will be forged with curators, artists, researchers,
Currently, the Kohler Arts Center holds the world’s largest
conservators, and the intellectually curious of all ages and
collection of artist-built environments, a unique art form created
backgrounds. The intent is to build understanding with prompts
by artists who transform their homes, yards or other aspects of
such as: What does it mean to be a steward of a collection?
their personal surroundings into multifaceted works of art that,
What does access to a collection and artwork look like? What is
in vernacular ways, embody and express the locale—time, era,
the importance of context and place?
place—in which each of them lived and worked. As the Center reaches capacity at its existing location for these collections, the
More information about the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and
new Art Preserve will dramatically expand the space, presenting
the Art Preserve is available at jmkac.org. — PATRICIA DUCHENE
28 THE OUTSIDER
■
The Art Preserve in Sheboygan, Wisc., the John Michael Kohler Arts Center’s new home for its collection of artist-built environments, is slated for opening August 2020. THE OUTSIDER 29
INTUIT LOOKS TO THE FUTURE WITH YOPROS GROUP
Intuit’s Young Professionals Board is an example of Intuit’s unwavering commitment to making the arts accessible to all, because the group engages younger generations, empowering members to support the museum’s programming and exhibitions and to promote dialogue between champions of outsider art. The YoPros have been invited to discussions on current trends and the future of outsider art with Pierre Muylle, independent curator and former director of the MADmuseé in Belgium; John Maizels, founder and publisher of Raw Vision magazine; and Leisa Rundquist, professor of art history at the A group of Intuit Young Professionals Board members in the museum gallery. Photo by Cheri Eisenberg.
“A few white ones snuck in,” Intuit Past Board President Cleo Wilson says of her thoughtfully curated and predominantly African-American collection of outsider art. She’s giving the Young Professionals Board, a recently-formed leadership group at Intuit, a tour of her Rogers Park home while hosting a regular meeting for the group, which members refer to as the “YoPros.” A previous intern at Intuit, I joined the Young Professionals Board after being invited to attend the group’s inaugural meeting in January 2019. The cohort of individuals at the first meeting included past interns, volunteers and staff members from the museum. Since then, the group has grown to 14 members led by YoPro President Michael Sullivan and Vice President Dana Boutin.
30 THE OUTSIDER
University of North Carolina Asheville. This year’s annual Spring Intuit fundraiser was planned and executed by the Young Professionals, offering an opportunity for members to develop their networks and essential skills to serve as arts leaders. In July, the YoPros went on a gallery crawl across Chicago, starting at Las Manos Gallery in Andersonville, traversing to Carl Hammer Gallery in River North and ending at self-taught artist Robert Johnson’s home studio in Hyde Park. The Young Professionals Board is a community of enthusiastic individuals united by a shared goal of spreading our love for Intuit and outsider art. Interested in joining the Young Professionals Board? Email claire@art.org for information. ■ — RILEY YAXLEY
EXHIBITORS JOIN FORCES TO ENCOURAGE VISITORS TO CULTURE LIKE A LOCAL
Those who work for CASM members often hear from visitors, “This place is great. I didn’t even know you existed!” Addressing this lack of knowledge is the main goal: make tourists and Chicagoans, alike, aware of the work these organizations are doing by pooling limited resources and getting members’ names and work out into the world in as many efficient and effective ways as possible. In the last year, CASM members cross-pollinated existing memberships with events and information that might appeal Chicago Association of Specialized Museums hosted a joint gallery exhibition in April 2019 at the Cards Against Humanity Theater. Photo courtesy of Tanner Woodford.
to locals looking to find unique, specialized activities outside of their home institution, as well as cost-effective and efficient ways to engage tourists. CASM mounted a kickoff exhibition,
Nearly two years ago, a group of small museums in Chicago
featuring a representative object from each organization,
started to think about the impact of power in numbers. The city
provided marketing material at festivals, and promoted each
has several existing cultural coalitions—Museums in the Park,
other’s events and exhibitions via social media and e-blasts.
Chicago Cultural Alliance and the Chicago Cultural Mile, among
Monthly meetings are moments for collaboration, acting as
others—but several small, niche exhibition spaces were left out,
opportunities to discuss partnerships and possible ways the
due to location or mission focus. By banding together, could
organizations can work together outside the specific goals
these small organizations bring more awareness to their work?
of CASM.
Thus, the founding members of the Chicago Association of Specialized Museums (CASM)—American Writers Museum,
Visit the website, CultureLikeALocal.org, to keep up with CASM’s
Design Museum of Chicago, International Museum of Surgical
latest efforts, and impress your friends and colleagues by
Science, Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art,
knowing what all of those “places they’ve never heard of” are
Loyola Museum of Art, McCormick Bridgehouse and River
working on. ■
Museum, Museum of Broadcast Communications, Museum of Contemporary Photography, and the Poetry Foundation—began
— LAUREN BOEGEN
a collaboration.
THE OUTSIDER 31
BOOK REVIEWS
That’s all to the brut, yet there was that famous portraitist great-grandfather, Thomas Sully, whose name she took and whose subjects included Andrew Jackson as seen on the $20 bill. There were attempts, apparently abortive, to take college-level art classes. There was what must have been a fairly cosmopolitan upbringing in a family that was prominent in the Native American community as well as in the Episcopal church. There’s an intellectually powerhouse sister, Ella Deloria, with whom Sully lived most of her adult life; a nephew, Vine Deloria Jr., who was an important writer (Custer Died for Your Sins); and Vine’s son Philip Deloria, who is a history professor at
Becoming Mary Sully: Toward an American Indian Abstract
Harvard and author of this book. With no formal background in art, that last Deloria was not a natural to write an art book. But he consulted widely, he says,
By Philip J. Deloria. University of Washington Press, Seattle,
and has clearly studied closely. Most important, his great aunt’s
336 pages, 221 color illustrations, 2019. ISBN:
life’s work, contained in a box left in his mother’s possession,
9780295745046, Paperback, $34.95.
gripped him when he finally engaged with it decades after Sully’s death. The richness of her identity, both in her life and
Mary Sully’s story is a saga of identity, from her signature artistic
her art, also happened to line up with his scholarly interests,
project—134 iterations of what she called “personality prints”—
in particular the relationship between Indians and modernity.
to her name, which was actually Susan Deloria, to her ancestry, which gets complicated quickly. Indian and Anglo, it included
The book thus explores not just Mary Sully’s art but goes deep
tribal leaders and a military officer who slaughtered tribes. There
into Indian culture and its relationship with art history and
is also a famous painter in her lineage and, not surprisingly,
American history generally. Deloria also delves into Sully’s
a lifelong struggle to find a place for herself.
sister, Ella, an important player in the development of cultural anthropology in the United States and a fascinating figure in her
Deloria’s creative history has the makings of outsider art tropes.
own right.
Born in 1896, she was compulsively shy, personally difficult and possibly bipolar. She was largely self-taught as an artist, we
Deloria’s interest in Sully’s context and broader significance does
are told, and certainly received little institutional artistic support
not prevent him from giving the art its due. He undertakes close
beyond that provided by how-to books. She produced a body
readings of a number of her personality prints. These constituted
of work that mostly went unseen, apart from some informal
a highly personal project in which she represented leading figures
showings at Indian schools, apparently organized by her sister
of her time, from Amelia Earhart and Patsy Kelly to J. Edgar
and herself. Then, rediscovery decades later revealed a unique,
Hoover, Shirley Temple and Thomas Edison, among many others.
dramatic and highly creative personal vision.
She also illustrated impersonal subjects such as the Red Cross, Good Friday and “Three Stages of Indian History.”
32 THE OUTSIDER
As Deloria makes clear, in part it was Sully’s very isolation from
Although it’s certain that his understanding has occasional
the art world and its infrastructure that made such a project
misses, they’re hardly noticeable compared to the book’s
possible for someone of her background. An Indian woman
biggest problem, which is not in anything he writes but in what
plumbing celebrated fame and accomplishment via a highly
he is able to show. At 7½ by 9 inches the volume is simply too
idiosyncratic combination of modernist design and Native
small. The pages aren’t big enough to do justice to the work
American abstraction was something entirely new and, in its
and, even given their size, aren’t used to best effect.
execution, quite wonderful. If the details are only barely discernable in this diminished As Deloria describes it, the “dimensional experimentation,
format, however, the power of the art still shines through.
perspectival play and optical challenge, aligned [her] with artists
The greater tragedy of Sully’s legacy seems clear: what Deloria
of the early 20th century.” But her worldview and extensive use of
calls her “‘one-way’ aesthetic engagement with the world.
native imagery clearly root her in that part of her family legacy.
It spoke to her and she spoke to it, even if that world had few opportunities to listen.”
The personality prints are all vertical triptychs, with two larger panels on top (18 inches by 12½ and 19 by 12, respectively)
Indeed, for decades after Sully created the work, no one heard
and the smallest on the bottom (12 by 9½). Each set of images
a thing. She died in 1963, her sister in 1971. The work was
is usually identified with a person, with the top panels tending to
put in a box and passed through the hands of relatives to the
be more representational (though not conventional portraiture),
author’s mother, who kept them safe for decades. Deloria
the middle panels moving further away from figuration, and
recalls seeing them in his youth but commented to the
the bottom panels entirely abstract and typically drawing most
Harvard Gazette, “In the ’70s they were mystifying, and we
heavily on traditional Indian patterns.
couldn’t make sense of how they worked; when we pulled them out in the 2000s and you could Google people, they took
The images are stunning—and often utterly distinctive, like the
on deeper meaning much more rapidly….
concentric circles of faces in Ziegfeld; the elegant motion in the semi-representational top panel of Fred Astaire that continues
“I went from thinking, ‘She’s my oddball great aunt’ to
through to the wholly abstract but still elegant and energetic bottom,
thinking, ‘She’s really a genius.’”
to the simply surreal imagery of Titled Husbands in the USA. Now, through his efforts, including this book, the world is While Deloria presents rich background on Sully and her sister,
finally getting the opportunity to listen and to start to grasp
there are still important gaps in our knowledge of their lives and
that genius. ■
perspectives, which makes for difficulties interpreting the work. Credit to Deloria that he tries hard to extract the meaning, taking
— WILLIAM SWISLOW
us a long way toward grasping his great aunt’s messages. Those messages had both aesthetic and political dimensions, partly summed up by what Deloria terms her “anti-primitivist Indian modernism.”
THE OUTSIDER 33
BOOK REVIEWS
for a certain kind of imagination,” been resurrected, by Institute 193, an arts organization devoted to “the cultural landscape of the modern South.” The current editors, besides preparing the manuscript for publication, worked with Williams’s two collaborators and traveling companions, photographers Roger Manley and Guy Mendes, to gather up the many photos they took on those trips. Between their photos and Williams’s narration, even with most of the artists dead and many of the sites the trio documented gone, you can almost feel like you’re there visiting. In that
Walks to the Paradise Garden: A Lowdown Southern Odyssey
sense, this is a travel book, even if it is unlike any other travel guide you’re likely to have used. It’s also an art book unlike any other. Refreshingly free of cant
By Jonathan Williams, photos by Roger Manley & Guy Mendes.
and pretense, it is a book more about curiosity, discovery and
Institute 193, Lexington Kentucky and New York, 352 pages,
joy than about art per se, even if it is chock full of it. It is
100 color images and 80 black and white, 2019. ISBN:
definitely a book about artists or, perhaps, more strictly speaking,
978-1732848207. Hardcover, $45.
creators, since many of its subjects, like so many art brut masters, didn’t consider themselves artists at all, or at least not
It’s a shame this book wasn’t published as intended in the
until somebody told them they were.
1990s. Not only would its author have still been alive, but so would most of the artists he encountered on his travels across
The ever-accessible stalwarts of the 1980s-90s southern folk-art
the back roads of the South.
tourism circuit are here—R. A. Miller, Howard Finster, Mose Tolliver and Jim Sudduth, among others. But there are also
Inspired by William Least Heat-Moon’s Blue Highways,
less commonly known artists and sites, such as the fully dotted
Jonathan Williams, poet, publisher and lover of the vernacular,
house of Mirell Lainhart in Jackson County, Kentucky; James
undertook a series of road trips starting in 1984 and continuing
Butt’s Dreamhouse near Moyock, North Carolina, and sculptor
through 1991, a period in which a whole cohort of self-taught
Jeff Williams in Sampson County, North Carolina.
southern artists came into their own. For many travelers of that era, Least Heat-Moon’s book-length essay was the authoritative
In one blockbuster chapter you can find accounts of visits to
handbook on how to travel well in the United States. Had it
Mary T. Smith, James Son Ford Thomas, Jim Sudduth, W. C.
been published, Williams’s own volume might have been the
Rice’s environment, Charlie Lucas, Mose Tolliver and David
authoritative guide to traveling amidst the southern vernacular.
Butler. Another extended chapter recounts a road trip with the supreme collector of southern black art, William Arnett. Either of
But Williams, who died in 2008, shelved the manuscript for unspecified reasons. Only now has his “wonder book, a guide
34 THE OUTSIDER
these chapters alone are worth the price of admission.
Coming out of the early upsurge of interest in these southern
Another chapter with downbeat moments features Martha
artists, the book is an artifact of its time. It should be read as a
Nelson, who essentially invented the Cabbage Patch Kids doll
first, not last, word on these artists. Its focus on eccentric and
but was outmaneuvered by a partner before they became one of
entertaining characters can seem anachronistic and occasionally
the most popular toys of the 1980s.
patronizing, though it’s a good bet that Williams considered himself as weird as the people he was writing about. (Then
For all of Williams’s bravura performance as a chronicler and
again, perhaps he was projecting his own eccentricity onto
a poet, the photography that accompanies his text is just as
people who may not have been quite so odd as he thought.)
important as the writing, with some of the portraits representing canonical image of their subjects. Manley is well known in the
He ultimately takes the artists very seriously. You just need to
self-taught art field for his activities as a curator, writer, photographer
remember that this is pointedly a work of poetry and discovery,
and museum director. Mendes, like Williams, is less prominent
not journalism or scholarship. It is a book about personal
in the field but no less attuned to these artists and their work.
encounters where quotations seem less the result of interviews than snippets of conversation. The writing can get a bit
The book concludes with a note from the curators of an
plummier than typical for art books, but Williams’s story-telling
accompanying exhibit at the High Museum in Atlanta, paying
skills keep the narrative from ever going astray.
tribute to Manley and Mendes and to other photographers who played important roles in bringing this kind of art to light, including
Even where his appreciation of the art seems like just a glance,
Nathan Lerner and Seymour Rosen. The curators used the
his appreciation of the artists runs deep, as seen in encounters
photos of Manley and Mendes to great effect in their High exhibit,
with the likes of potter Georgia Blizzard, painter Sam Doyle and
Way Out There. The large prints were dramatic and, along with
the sainted Eddie Owens Martin. These accounts include some
selections of work by the pictured artists, created an effective
choice quotes, like this one, from statue-maker and environ-
context for appreciating the artists and their documenters.
ment-builder Eldren M. Bailey: “When I was doin’ these things, I didn’t know why I was doin’ ’em. I didn’t know what for. It just
Bonus material in both the book and exhibit includes a sampling
broke out on me, kind of like a sore or somethin’, before I knew
of Williams’s poetry, which often took the form of found art—
what I was doin’. Maybe some folks see more in ’em than I see?”
recitations of words and sentences and stories that caught his fancy. I particularly liked the page in the book devoted to
Some of the visits in the book are quite downbeat. Frequently,
his rendering of “Nude Driver Threw Lard,” a brief account of
it’s a matter of an artist’s ill health, but sometimes their ill
a classically small-town crime story that I happened to have
treatment. Williams relates Mendes’s encounter with David But-
clipped from a newspaper in 1982. It captures the eccentricity
ler, whose environment in Patterson, Louisiana, was decimated
that drew Williams to this material, even if from today’s perspective
by the enthusiasm of dealers and collectors. “I don’t want you
it may be less the superficial eccentricity of some of these artists
to take my photograph because people will just come and take
that we appreciate than the core creative talent. Both actually
everything away from me,” Butler told Mendes (who got a photo
come through strongly in the book, as well as Williams’s own. ■
anyway). Perhaps stories like Butler’s gave Williams pause when it came to publishing a book that would guide still more
— WILLIAM SWISLOW
enthusiasts to these artists and their places.
THE OUTSIDER 35
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36 THE OUTSIDER
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STRATEGIC ADVISORY
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COUNCIL
Current and upcoming exhibitions Jerry’s Map
Charlie Baum
August 15, 2019-January 19, 2020
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Susan Baerwald
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Student Exhibition
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Art Against the Flow
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Art Against the Flow
VIVIAN SOCIETY
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(LIFE TRUSTEES)
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Outsider Art Museum
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Ann Nathan
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THE OUTSIDER 37
Founded in 1991, Intuit is a premier museum of outsider and self-taught art, art created by artists who are motivated by their unique personal visions and demonstrate little or no influence from the mainstream art world. Intuit offers world-class exhibitions; a collection of 1,200 works of art; resources for scholars and students, such as the Robert A. Roth Study Center; and educational programming for people of all interest levels and backgrounds. Its centerpiece is its Henry Darger Room Collection, a permanent exhibition and archives, which attracts visitors and scholars worldwide. 756 N. Milwaukee Ave. Chicago, Illinois 60642 ISBN 9780999001035
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