Untitled 

Gaston Chaissac made this untitled painting. It presents a face comprised of geometric shapes, executed in bright yellow and blue, with bold black outlines. Chaissac was a French painter associated with the Art Brut movement, which celebrated art made outside the boundaries of the official art world. After the Second World War, the established art institutions were seen by some artists as too exclusive, reinforcing social hierarchies. In its place, many were drawn to the raw, untutored expression found in folk art, children’s drawings, and the work of the mentally ill. Chaissac’s work is a clear challenge to the traditional norms of the art world. If the value of art resides in the unique vision of the individual artist, then that vision is surely to be found most purely in those who stand outside the academy. To understand Art Brut fully, one must delve into the histories of the institutions it reacted against, and the alternative social structures it proposed.