Uhaja von Indien, meine liebe Tauf=Paatinn 1922

Adolf Wölfli made this intriguing drawing, Uhaja von Indien, meine liebe Tauf=Paatinn, with crayon sometime before his death in 1930. Wölfli spent his adult life in the Waldau mental asylum near Bern. He became one of the most well-known exponents of what psychiatrists called ‘art brut’ or ‘outsider art’ – art made outside the bounds of art institutions and without formal training. This art has become deeply interesting for social and cultural historians. We find that this drawing is full of imagery that defies a single interpretation; it includes images of faces and patterns, frames within frames, as well as the written word. As a historian, I’m always interested in the conditions of production of this kind of art. It seems to critique the institutions that classified it as art brut. This self-awareness is one of the reasons why Wölfli’s art continues to fascinate. We can use institutional records to find out more about art and the context in which it was made.