The Collection de l'Art Brut lends nearly 30 works to the American Folk Art Museum (NY) for the exhibition "Francesc Tosquelles: Avant-Garde Psychiatry and the Birth of Art Brut"

The "Francesc Tosquelles: Avant-Garde Psychiatry and the Birth of Art Brut" exhibition opened at the American Folk Art Museum (NY) on 12 April.

Nearly 30 works from the CAB made the trip to New York!

This exhibition—situated at the intersection of art and psychiatry—explores for the first time in the United States the legacy of Catalan psychiatrist Francesc Tosquelles (Reus, Spain, 1912–Granges-sur-Lot, France, 1994).

After fleeing the Nationalist government of Franco amidst the Spanish Civil War, Tosquelles arrived in 1940 at the Saint-Alban psychiatric hospital in Southern France, where he devised a series of revolutionary psychiatric practices that came to be called “institutional psychotherapy,” predicated on non-hierarchical relations between patients, doctors, manual laborers on site, neighboring communities, and outsiders.

During the German occupation of France, this “asylum-village” also became a refuge for political dissidents and intellectuals associated with the artistic avant-garde, whom were exposed to the prodigious artistic output of its patients—among them Auguste Forestier, Marguerite Sirvins, and Aimable Jayet. These very artworks prompted French artist Jean Dubuffet to expand upon the notion of “art brut” in 1945 and contribute to the development of his collection.

American Folk Art Museum - until August 18, 2024
2 Lincoln Square
Columbus Avenue at West 66th Street
New York, NY 10023

Publish Date: 22.04.2024