Outsider Art and the autistic creator

Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2009 May 27;364(1522):1459-66. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0325.

Abstract

Outsider Art (art brut) is defined as a mode of original artistic expression which thrives on its independence, shunning the public sphere and the art market. Such art can be highly idiosyncratic and secretive, and reflects the individual creator's attempt to construct a coherent, albeit strange, private world. Certain practitioners of what may be termed autistic art are examined in the light of this definition; their work is considered as evidence not of a medical condition but of an expressive intentionality entirely worthy of the interest of those drawn to the aesthetic experience.

MeSH terms

  • Art*
  • Autistic Disorder / physiopathology
  • Autistic Disorder / psychology*
  • Creativity*
  • Humans
  • Intention