Self-taught and outsider art: the Anthony Petullo collection

Abstract

This spectacular volume reproduces in full color some 150 pieces from the Anthony Petullo Collection, an extraordinary assemblage of paintings and drawings produced by individuals working outside the perimeter of conventional art training and traditions. Some of the pieces are fanciful, even whimsical. Others are haunting in their unembellished depiction of vulnerability and terror. Some are spare; others are crowded with figures. Some exhibit a childlike simplicity; others are almost sculpted in their precision and clarity. The thirty-six European and North American artists represented in and Outsider include a hospital janitor, a factory worker, concentration camp survivors, a truck driver, a guard at the Tate Gallery, a self-proclaimed fortuneteller and healer, and a female impersonator and Hollywood screenwriter. Their canvases include paper, wood, long strips of calico cloth, and cardboard. One artist paints with both hands simultaneously; another finds it difficult to paint except amid the chaos of his family. Many began painting quite late in life; others had early dreams of pursuing art that were deferred by economic and family circumstances. Some have been institutionalized or incarcerated; others have struggled with terrible poverty and personal loss. Perhaps more than the work of conventionally trained artists, pieces by outsider or self-taught artists are entwined with the identities of their creators. In support of that connection, Self-Taught and Outsider Art presents the artworks in conjunction with portraits, usually photographs, of the artists and brief biographical sketches. In some cases a friend or patron provides an anecdote about the artist. Taken together, these offer an intimate glimpse of the process by which art emerges from experience.