PDA

View Full Version : Outsider Art: Adolf Wolfi



Ian Townsend
15-04-2012, 09:57 AM
Gradually pulling together material for an article on Outsider Architecture at the moment, based on a trip I took through France about ten years ago checking out Ferdnand Cheval's Palais Ideal, the house of 'She Who Paints' and some other amazing places.

I'm obviously re-visiting Outsider Art first and in my quest found this cool slideshow of Adolf Wolfi's art with music inspired by his work.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igQHYK6RNlk

Adolf Wolfi was one of the first identified Art Brut artists. Art Brut was the original term from Jean Dubuffet; Roger Cardinal in the UK later called it Outsider Art. Outsider Art is a broader genre, Art Brut was originally applied only to the art done by people in asylums. Outsider Artists are not necessarily insane, they are just driven to create art, buildings, sculptures but with no formal art training.

Adolf Wölfli (1864 - 1930)

Wölfli was abused both physically and sexually as a child, and was orphaned at the age of 10; He thereafter grew up in a series of state-run foster homes. He worked as a farm labourer and briefly joined the army, but was later convicted of attempted child molestation, for which he served prison time. Sometime after being freed, he was arrested for a similar offense and was admitted in 1895 to the Waldau Clinic in Bern, Switzerland, a psychiatric hospital where he spent the rest of his adult life. He was very disturbed and sometimes violent on admission, leading to him being kept in isolation for his early time at hospital. He suffered from psychosis, which led to intense hallucinations.

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/Outsider%20Art/52_copy3_lg.jpg

At some point after his admission Wölfli began to draw. His first surviving works (a series of 50 pencil drawings) are dated from between 1904 and 1906.

Wölfli produced a huge number of works during his life, often working with the barest of materials and trading smaller works with visitors to the clinic to obtain pencils, paper or other essentials. Morgenthaler closely observed Wölfli's methods, writing in his influential book:

"Every Monday morning Wölfli is given a new pencil and two large sheets of unprinted newsprint. The pencil is used up in two days; then he has to make do with the stubs he has saved or with whatever he can beg off someone else. He often writes with pieces only five to seven millimetres long and even with the broken-off points of lead, which he handles deftly, holding them between his fingernails. He carefully collects packing paper and any other paper he can get from the guards and patients in his area; otherwise he would run out of paper before the next Sunday night. At Christmas the house gives him a box of coloured pencils, which lasts him two or three weeks at the most."The images Wölfli produced were complex, intricate and intense. They worked to the very edges of the page with detailed borders. In a manifestation of Wölfli's "horror vacui", every empty space was filled with two small holes. Wölfli called the shapes around these holes his "birds."

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/Outsider%20Art/b_riesen_traube_lg.jpg

His images also incorporated an idiosyncratic musical notation. This notation seemed to start as a purely decorative affair but later developed into real composition which Wölfli would play on a paper trumpet.

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/Outsider%20Art/tumblr_l2ols0Tgxy1qabxhn.jpg

In 1908, he set about creating a semi-autobiographical epic which eventually stretched to 45 volumes, containing a total of over 25,000 pages and 1,600 illustrations. This work was a mix of elements of his own life blended with fantastical stories of his adventures from which he transformed himself from a child to 'Knight Adolf' to 'Emperor Adolf' and finally to 'St Adolf II'. Text and illustrations formed the narrative, sometimes combining multiple elements on kaleidoscopic pages of music, words and colour.

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/Outsider%20Art/hero.jpg

Wölfli eventually died in 1930 and his works were taken to the Museum of the Waldau Clinic in Bern. After his death the Adolf Wölfli Foundation was formed to preserve his art for future generations. Today its collection is on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Bern.
Wölfli's work has inspired many composers. Perhaps most notable the Danish composer Per Nørgård who after viewing a Wölfli exhibition in 1979 embarked on a schizoid style lasting for several years; among the works of this time are an opera on the life of Wölfli called The Divine Circus.

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/Outsider%20Art/adolf2.jpg

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/Outsider%20Art/54_a_copy1_lg.jpg

SieFly
15-04-2012, 11:30 AM
i wish they'd repeat the Jarvis Cocker Outsider Art series he made - truly fascinating stuff - nice images there Ian mate

Ian Townsend
17-04-2012, 06:47 AM
i wish they'd repeat the Jarvis Cocker Outsider Art series he made - truly fascinating stuff - nice images there Ian mate
I never saw this Sie and bloody wish I had. Nicole and I did a trip all through France about ten years ago on a route dictated by where the most interesting looking Outsider Architecture was.

Had a blast, took loads of photos and met several of the artists in person. I was upset yesterday to hear about the death of Jean Linard (https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=jean+linard&hl=en&safe=off&prmd=imvnso&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=hxGNT8TqKcjg8APspLC3Cw&sqi=2&ved=0CD0QsAQ&biw=1024&bih=620) who constructed his own ecumenical Cathedral (http://aubignynewbuzz.hautetfort.com/archive/2011/11/14/jean-linard-potier-jardinier-ceramiste-peintre-et-sculpteur.html) in his garden. We met him and he was just the loveliest bloke. Put down his wheelbarrow, invited us in and we had a morning brunch with him and his wife; despite us just turning up at his house. Fantastic guy.

Anyway... will be sharing photos of the trip later on the main website. It's something I've wanted to do for ages.

Ian Townsend
15-06-2012, 02:56 PM
Just noticed the latest issue of Raw Vision (http://www.rawvision.com/) has an article in it about Wolfi's unique music notation.

John Turner talks to minimalist composer Terry Riley about performing the music of Adolf Wolfi. (http://www.rawvision.com/articles/75/wolfli/wolfli.html)