Beauty, Art Brut and the Merchant. Jean-Pierre Ritch-Fitsch, The Passer of the Unseen
The Contemporary Workshop| N° d'inventaire | 25937 |
| Format | 16 x 20 |
| Détails | 374 p., numerous color illustrations, paperback. |
| Publication | Strasbourg, 2022 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782850351006 |
An ocean separates aesthetic beauty from absolute originality. Emerging from the depths, the never-before-seen is associated with unsettling forms which, by upsetting our bearings, also shake our certainties. On the order of apparition, this unknown translates an unequaled otherness, the antithesis of conventions and tastes shared by the majority.
As industrial society spread across Europe, alongside the growing interest of the avant-garde in primitive, naive arts and children's drawings, the works of the insane, prisoners, isolated autodidacts and spiritualists gradually attracted the attention of graduates of the Faculty, who were joined by a few fine translators of the human soul, artists and poets. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the visual artist Jean Dubuffet called these explosive blossoms "Art Brut". By distinguishing them within a collection that he built up and enriched over time, he intended to protect them and at the same time remove them from a mimetic cultural world, as well as from the art market.
Since then, Art Brut, including under other names, has spread across all continents. The family composed of its disconcerting, even disturbing, and unrelated creators has expanded to include the disabled and the elderly. With varying degrees of success, creative workshops have opened their doors to them. Cousins and allies draw inspiration from their creations, drawing from them the energy necessary to assert their own path, when they are not simply subject to their influence. Some private collections grant them pride of place. Museums acquire and exhibit their works, which also find a place in major international fairs. Several galleries in Europe and the United States have made it their specialty.
It is in Strasbourg, at the intersection of the roads, where The Ship of Fools found a home port, that one of them was born. In the mid-1990s, Jean-Pierre Ritsch-Fisch, its founder, was forced to close the family fur business. He then returned to his first passion, the world of art.
His quest for the impossible began: unearthing works by originals, outsiders, and even historical figures of Art Brut, and applying the same rigor to his choices that he imposed on himself, still young, for his first collection devoted to Narrative Figuration. Then, he cast off and set out to meet European and American audiences. The Beautiful, Art Brut and the Merchant tells his unique adventure.
An ocean separates aesthetic beauty from absolute originality. Emerging from the depths, the never-before-seen is associated with unsettling forms which, by upsetting our bearings, also shake our certainties. On the order of apparition, this unknown translates an unequaled otherness, the antithesis of conventions and tastes shared by the majority.
As industrial society spread across Europe, alongside the growing interest of the avant-garde in primitive, naive arts and children's drawings, the works of the insane, prisoners, isolated autodidacts and spiritualists gradually attracted the attention of graduates of the Faculty, who were joined by a few fine translators of the human soul, artists and poets. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the visual artist Jean Dubuffet called these explosive blossoms "Art Brut". By distinguishing them within a collection that he built up and enriched over time, he intended to protect them and at the same time remove them from a mimetic cultural world, as well as from the art market.
Since then, Art Brut, including under other names, has spread across all continents. The family composed of its disconcerting, even disturbing, and unrelated creators has expanded to include the disabled and the elderly. With varying degrees of success, creative workshops have opened their doors to them. Cousins and allies draw inspiration from their creations, drawing from them the energy necessary to assert their own path, when they are not simply subject to their influence. Some private collections grant them pride of place. Museums acquire and exhibit their works, which also find a place in major international fairs. Several galleries in Europe and the United States have made it their specialty.
It is in Strasbourg, at the intersection of the roads, where The Ship of Fools found a home port, that one of them was born. In the mid-1990s, Jean-Pierre Ritsch-Fisch, its founder, was forced to close the family fur business. He then returned to his first passion, the world of art.
His quest for the impossible began: unearthing works by originals, outsiders, and even historical figures of Art Brut, and applying the same rigor to his choices that he imposed on himself, still young, for his first collection devoted to Narrative Figuration. Then, he cast off and set out to meet European and American audiences. The Beautiful, Art Brut and the Merchant tells his unique adventure.