John M. MacGregor: The Discovery of the Art of the Insane (1989)

“This pioneering work, the first history of the art of the insane, scrutinizes changes in attitudes toward the art of the mentally ill from a time when it was either ignored or ridiculed, through the era when major figures in the art world discovered the extraordinary power of visual statements by psychotic artists such as Adolf Wölfli and Richard Dadd. John MacGregor draws on his dual training in art history and in psychiatry and psychoanalysis to describe not only this evolution in attitudes but also the significant influence of the art of the mentally ill on the development of modern art as a whole. His detailed narrative, with its strangely beautiful illustrations, introduces us to a fascinating group of people that includes the psychotic artists, both trained and untrained, and the psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, critics, and art historians who encountered their work.”

Publisher Princeton University Press, 1989
ISBN 0691040710, 9780691040714
xix+390 pages
via mutewar

Reviews: Aaron H. Esman (Hist Behavioral Sciences), Ellen Handler Spitz (Art Bulletin), Aaron H. Esman (JAPA).

WorldCat

PDF (24 MB)

See also Hans Prinzhorn’s Artistry of the Mentally Ill (1922–).