Swiss, 20th century.
Born 1864, Bern, Switzerland; died 1930, Bern, Switzerland.
One of the most hallowed artists in the pantheon of Outsider Art, Adolf Wölfli is responsible for inspiring the earliest attempt to truly recognize the Outsider as an artist. Born in Bern, Switzerland in 1864, Wölfli was orphaned at age 10, and endured consistent sexual and physical abuse within the state foster system. He worked briefly as a farm laborer until, following a series of prison terms for attempted child abuse, he was diagnosed with psychosis, and in 1895 was committed to the Waldau Clinic in Bern, where he lived and flourished creatively until his death in 1930.
Although he wrote a brief prose autobiography not long after entering the Waldau, Wölfli’s first drawings do not date until 1904. These works drew the attention of a psychiatrist at Waldau, Dr. Walter Morganthaler, who recognized his talent, and responded to the challenge of honoring it as more than simply a symptom of mental illness. Morganthaler published a seminal study of Wölfli’s work in 1921 entitled A Mental Patient as Artist with the intention of positing a universal psychological theory of creativity, earning Wölfli unprecedented recognition. In 1908 he began his autobiographical magnum opus of 2500 pages of both drawings and collages, filling 45 bound volumes. He also produced a significant archive of smaller, decorative works he called “bread art,” as they were intended to bring in a small income to pay for basic art supplies.
Thanks to the Wölfli scholar and curator Elke Spoerri, we have a clear view into this classic Outsider’s formidable oeuvre, which the artist called “Saint-Adolf-Giant-Creation” The first book, titled “From the Cradle to the Grave” (1908-1912), is an imaginary autobiography as a child, engaged in fantastical adventures. These compositions are framed by the artist’s signature ornamental border, and are marked by composite perspective, intricate cityscapes, and a mix of text and image, including his unique bestiary of ornamental birds and self-portraits, which change as the narrative evolves.
In the following book, “Geographic and Algebraic Books” (1913-16) the artist’s mythical alter ego is canonized, morphng into St. Adolf II. The next two books contain thousands of pages richly layered with poetry, coded musical compositions, and collages that have long captivated not only art audiences but also composers and musicians: “Books with Songs and Dances” (1917-1922), and “Album Books with Dances and Marches” (1924-28). He produced a final book entitled “Funeral March” between 1928 and his death in 1930. Composed not with musical notation but rather with a hybrid phonetic-numeral system exploring an image or images collaged onto the same page.
The scope of Wölfli’s genius has only begun to be fully explored in major exhibitions, and continues to present us with new discoveries and surprises. As is true of many Outsider Artists, Wölfli has influenced generations of artists who have looked not only to his work, but also to the example of his singular dedication to his artwork.
- Jenifer P. Borum
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2021
Outsider Art: The Collection of Victor F. Keen, curated by Alison Amick, Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, Chicago, IL
Giant=Creation. The World of Adolf Wölfli, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland
2020
An Alternative Canon: Art Dealers Collecting Outsider Art, curated by Paul Laster, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY
2019
Memory Palaces: Inside the Collection of Audrey B. Heckler, American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY
Doors of Perception, Curated Javier Téllez, Frieze New York, New York, NY
2018
Vestiges & Verse: Notes from the Newfangled Epic, American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY
2017
Adolf Wölfli: A Kingdom of 25,000 Pages, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Hyogo, Japan
2016
World Made By Hand, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York
2015
Jean Dubuffet: Art Brut and the Collection de l'Art Brut, American Folk Art Museum, New York
2014
Art, Madness - Chocolate. Adolf Wölfli, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Purple States, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York
2013
Outsiders, Naïve and Autodidacts, Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa, Israel
2012
Presentation of Works from the Adolf Wölfli Collection, Kuntsmuseum, Bern, Bern, Switzerland
2011
All Things Round: Galaxies, Eyeballs & Karma, American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore
All Folked Up, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York
2010
Intuition, Whitworth Gallery, Manchester, England
2009
Approaching Abstraction, American Folk Art Museum, New York
2006
Inner Worlds Outside, traveling exhibition, Sala de Exposiciones de la Fundacíon "La Caixa," Madrid; WhiteChapel Gallery, London; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
2005
Dubuffet & Art Brut, traveling exhibition, Museum Kunst Palast, Dusseldorf; Collection de l'Art Brut, Lausanne; Museum of Modern Art Lille Metropole, Villeneuve-D'ascq, France
2003
The Art of Adolf Wölfli: St. Adolf-Giant-Creation, American Folk Art Museum, New York
1998
The World of Adolf Wölfli, Goldie Paley Gallery, Moore College of Art, Philadelphia
1992
Parallel Visions: Modern Artists and Outsider Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
1972
Documenta 5, Kassel, Germany
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, MD
American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY
Amulf Rainer Collection, Vienna, AU
Charlotte Zander Museum, Cologne, DE
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, FR
Collection abcd, Montreuil, FR
Collection de l'Art Brut, Lausanne, FR
Damann Collection, Bâle, SW
Lille Métropole Musée d'art moderne, d'art contemporain et d'art brut, Villeneuve d'Ascq, FR
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
Museum of Fine Arts, Bern, Switzerland
Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, FR
Treger Saint Silvestre Collection, Portugal
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2012
Accidental Genius: Art from the Anthony Petullo Collection, Stone, Lisa, New York, Prestel Publishing
2006
Inner Worlds Outside, exhibition catalogue, Fundacíon "La Caixa," WhiteChapel Gallery, Irish Museum of Modern Art & Ediciones El Viso, Madrid
2005
Dubuffet & Art Brut, exhibition catalogue, 5 Continents Editions & Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf
2003
The Art of Adolf Wölfli: St. Adolf-Giant-Creation, Spoerri, Elka, Adolf Wölfli, Daniel Baumann, and Edward M. Gomez,, American Folk Art Museum, New York,
1997
Adolf Wölfli: Draftsman, Writer, Poet, Composer, Spoerri, Elka, Cornell University Press, Ithaca
1992
Madness [and] Art: The Life and Works of Adolf Wölfli, Morgenthaler, Walter, and Aaron H. Esman, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln
1992
Parallel Visions: Modern Artists and Outsider Art, exhibition catalogue, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Tuchman, Maurice and Carol S. Eliel, eds., Los Angeles