Eternity Has No Door of Escape

Filmmaker Arthur Borgnis’s documentary presents an excellent history of what is called outsider art or, to use the French term, art brut—primarily works by those suffering from mental illness, but also including artwork made by practitioners of Spiritism (under purportedly supernatural influences), and self-taught visionaries. The film initially focuses on pioneering figures such as psychiatrist Hans Prinzhorn and artist-collector Jean Dubuffet, who were instrumental in developing an appreciation for such artwork, and then looks at attempts to curate collections of art brut and ensure that the works would be properly maintained (although there were differences of opinion as to whether it should be publicly displayed). But the documentary also connects the interest in outsider art with more mainstream movements such as surrealism, abstraction, and structuralism, while providing mini-studies of some of the most notable artists of the genre, such as Adolf Wölfli, who produced a stream of work in an institution after his conviction for child molestation, and August Natterer, labeled by Prinzhorn as a "schizophrenic master." Illustrated with a wide array of archival material and ample artwork examples, coupled with extensive excerpts from interviews with scholarly experts and collectors, Borgnis’s film offers a splendid introduction to a fascinating byway in the course of art history. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)