Adolf Wölfli (February 29, 1864 – November 6, 1930) was a Swiss visual artist who was one of the first artists to be associated with the Art Brut or
outsider art
Outsider art is Fine art, art made by Autodidacticism, self-taught individuals who are untrained and untutored in the traditional arts with typically little or no contact with the Convention (norm), conventions of the art worlds.
The term ''ou ...
label.
Early life
Wölfli was born near
Bern
Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
. He was
abuse
Abuse is the act of improper usage or treatment of a person or thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, ...
d both
physically and
sexually as a child, and was
orphan
An orphan is a child whose parents have died, are unknown, or have permanently abandoned them. It can also refer to a child who has lost only one parent, as the Hebrew language, Hebrew translation, for example, is "fatherless". In some languages ...
ed at the age of 10. He thereafter grew up in a series of state-run
foster home
Foster care is a system in which a underage, minor has been placed into a ward (law), ward, group home (Residential Child Care Community, residential child care community or treatment centre), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, ref ...
s. He worked as a ''
Verdingbub'' (indentured child laborer) and briefly joined the army. He was charged with the attempted sexual abuse of minors and was sentenced to a prison term. In 1895, following another similar arrest, he was admitted to the Waldau Clinic, a
psychiatric hospital
A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe Mental disorder, mental disorders. These institutions cater t ...
in Bern where he would live out the rest of his life. He was very disturbed and sometimes violent upon admission, leading to him being kept in isolation during his early time at the hospital. He experienced
psychosis
In psychopathology, psychosis is a condition in which a person is unable to distinguish, in their experience of life, between what is and is not real. Examples of psychotic symptoms are delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized or inco ...
, which led to intense
hallucination
A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the compelling sense of reality. They are distinguishable from several related phenomena, such as dreaming ( REM sleep), which does not involve wakefulness; pse ...
s.
Creative works
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.
Walter Morgenthaler, a doctor at the Waldau Clinic, took a particular interest in Wölfli's art and his condition, later publishing ''Ein Geisteskranker als Künstler'' (A Psychiatric Patient as Artist) in 1921 which first brought Wölfli to the attention of the art world.
Morgenthaler's book detailed the works of a patient who seemed to have no previous interest in art and developed his talents and skills independently after being committed for a debilitating condition. In this respect, Wölfli was an
iconoclast
Iconoclasm ()From . ''Iconoclasm'' may also be considered as a back-formation from ''iconoclast'' (Greek: εἰκοκλάστης). The corresponding Greek word for iconoclasm is εἰκονοκλασία, ''eikonoklasia''. is the social belie ...
and influenced the development and acceptance of
outsider art
Outsider art is Fine art, art made by Autodidacticism, self-taught individuals who are untrained and untutored in the traditional arts with typically little or no contact with the Convention (norm), conventions of the art worlds.
The term ''ou ...
, ''Art Brut'' and its champion
Jean Dubuffet
Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet (; 31 July 1901 – 12 May 1985) was a French Painting, painter and sculpture, sculptor of the School of Paris, École de Paris (School of Paris). His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so-called "low art" a ...
.
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
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...
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".
His images also incorporated an idiosyncratic
musical notation
Musical notation is any system used to visually represent music. Systems of notation generally represent the elements of a piece of music that are considered important for its performance in the context of a given musical tradition. The proce ...
. This notation seemed to start as a purely decorative affair but later developed into real composition which Wölfli would play on a paper trumpet.
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.
After Wölfli died at Waldau in 1930, his works were taken to the Museum of the Waldau Clinic in
Bern
Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
. Later, the Adolf Wölfli Foundation was formed to preserve his art for future generations. Its collection is now on display at the
Museum of Fine Arts in Bern.
Music and audio recordings
Wölfli's work has inspired many composers. Danish composer
Per Nørgård, 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''. The
chamber opera
Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a Chamber music, chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra. Early 20th-century operas of this type include Paul Hindemith's ''Cardillac'' (1926). Earlier small-scale operas ...
''Wölfli Szenen'' (''Wölfli Scenes''), which premiered in Graz, Austria, in 1981, featured music by
Georg Friedrich Haas, the Austrian composer of
spectral music,
Gösta Neuwirth, Anton Prestele and
Wolfgang Rihm.
On their web site, The Adolph Wölfli Foundation poses the following question:
In 1978, "Adolf Wölfli: Gelesen Und Vertont", the first recording of Wölfli's work ever to be published, was released by the Adolf Wölfli Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts,
Bern
Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
. Since that time, a number of German musicians have released adaptations of Wölfli's work. A comprehensive list of these artists can be found at The Adolph Wölfli Foundation's music page.
In 1987, musician and composer
Graeme Revell
Graeme Revell (born 23 October 1955) is a New Zealand musician and composer. He came to prominence in the 1980s as the leader of the industrial rock/ electronic rock group SPK. Since the 1990s he has worked primarily as a film score composer. ...
released an LP entitled ''Necropolis, Amphibians & Reptiles: The Music of Adolf Wolfli''. This was on his own Musique Brut label in London, UK in 1987. This audio compilation was based on the works of Wölfli and incorporated digital renditions of Wölfli's compositions, with additional sound effects and ambient soundscapes added to the songs, by Revell, based on the artwork surrounding Wölfli's musical notations. The LP was a collection of musical interpretations by Revell as well as DDAA, &
Nurse With Wound. This LP came with a booklet with a biography and images of Wolfli's works. Tracks 8 and 9 are combined into one track. This record was later re-released as ''The Musique Brut Collection'' on CD by the Grey Area record label, a sub-label of
UK-based
Mute Records
Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller (music producer), Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure (duo), Erasure, Einstürze ...
, under the parent label
EMI
EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
UK. This audio compilation also includes the other Musique Brut LP release ''The Insect Musicians''. The CD release also contains a small booklet containing pictures of Wölfli's artwork, information about his history, and a brief write-up on Revell's process of converting Wölfli's
lithographs
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
into songs.
In 1992,
Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist music, minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his work became notab ...
composed and performed a two-hour opera entitled ''The Saint Adolf Ring'' based on Wölfli's life.
In 2010,
Baudouin De Jaer
Baudouin () is a French masculine given name and surname, related to Baldwin (name), Baldwin.
Notable people with the name include:
Given name
* Baudouin of Belgium (1930–1993), King of the Belgians from 1951–1993
* Prince Baudouin of Belgium ...
released a record entitled ''The Heavenly Ladder'' with compositions by Wölfli.
Gallery
File:Adolf Wölfli Die Skt-Wandanna-Kathedrale in Band-Wand.jpg, ''Die Skt-Wandanna-Kathedrale in Band-Wand'', 1910.
File:Waldau-Wolfli.jpg, ''Heilanstalt Waldau'', 1921.
File:Adolf Wölfli Schähren-Hall und Schährer-Skt Adolf-Ring.jpg, ''Schähren Hall'', 1926.
File:Adolf Wölfli Campbell’s Tomato Soup.jpg, ''Campbell's Tomato Soup'', 1929.
File:Adolf Wölfli 004.jpg, ''Musiknotation'', 1930
File:Adolf Wölfli Skt-Adolf-Thron -Flühe-Blume.jpg, ''Skt-Adolf-Thron -Flühe-Blume''.
File:Adolf Wölfli Zungsang-Skt-Adolf-Roosali.jpg, ''Zungsang-Skt.-Adolf-Roosali'' 1917.
File:AdolfWolfiPortrait.png, Adolf Wölfli 1925.
See also
*
Outsider art
Outsider art is Fine art, art made by Autodidacticism, self-taught individuals who are untrained and untutored in the traditional arts with typically little or no contact with the Convention (norm), conventions of the art worlds.
The term ''ou ...
*
Fractal art
Fractal art is a form of algorithmic art created by calculating fractal objects and representing the calculation results as still digital images, animations, and Algorithmic composition, media. Fractal art developed from the mid-1980s onwards. ...
Other outsider artists
*
Henry Darger
Henry Joseph Darger Jr. ( ; April 12, 1892 – April 13, 1973) was an American writer, novelist and artist who worked as a hospital janitor, custodian in Chicago, Illinois. He has become famous for his posthumously recovered 15,145-page manuscri ...
, an outsider artist who independently arrived at his own illustrated semi-autobiographical epic many thousands of pages in length.
*
Mark Beyer, a comics artist whose work manifests a similar ''horror vacui''.
*
Joseph Cornell
Joseph Cornell (December 24, 1903 – December 29, 1972) was an American visual artist and filmmaker, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage. Influenced by the Surrealists, he was also an avant-garde experimental filmma ...
References
Further reading
*''Écrits d'Art Brut. Graphomanes extravagants'',
Lucienne Peiry, Paris, Le Seuil, 2020.
*Walter Morgenthaler, ''Madness & Art, The Life and Works of Adolf Wölfli'' (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992) (= Translation of ''Ein Geisteskranker als Künstler'').
* John Maizels, ''Raw Creation: Outsider Art and Beyond'' (1996).
* Elka Spoerri, Daniel Baumann and E. M. Gomez, ''The Art of Adolf Wolfli'' (2003).
*
External links
Adolf Wölfli FoundationAdolf Wölfli – Zander Collection
Biography of Adolf WölfliAdolf Wolfli website w external linksThe Autobiography of St Adolf II– article on Wölfli from artnet.com, including images of his artwork
Review of 'The Art of Adolf Wolfli'*
ttp://www.discogs.com/release/146589 The Musique Brut Collection at discogs.combr>
Adolf Wölfli & Nurse With Wound at Lenka lente
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfli, Adolph
Outsider artists
Artists from Bern
1864 births
1930 deaths
19th-century Swiss painters
Swiss male painters
20th-century Swiss painters
People with schizophrenia
Self-taught artists
19th-century Swiss male artists
20th-century Swiss male artists
Swiss people with disabilities
Artists with disabilities