Uniform and Obstinacy. Militarism, World War and Art in Psychiatry

October, 2 2014 - February, 14 2015

100 years after the beginning of World War I the Prinzhorn Collection risks for once a very alternative view on this “seminal catastrophe of the 20th century”. There are hundreds of artistic works by inmates of psychiatric institutions in the German empire, which respond to the militarism of contemporary society or the war itself. These utterances of a largely displaced civilian group are hardly known. Through more than 150 works in the exhibition, we can see that in the “art of the insane”, the moods and themes of civil society are not only reflected but also focused on as if under a magnifying glass, or distorted into recognition.

Images:

Karl Genzel, Militarismus, um 1914/15 © Prinzhorn Collection

Adam Ginand, Friede, 1919 © Prinzhorn Collection

Adolf Nesper, Es braust ein Ruf wie Donnerhall, 1906-1913 © Prinzhorn Collection

Jakob Mohr, Ohne Titel, 1916 © Prinzhorn Collection

Rudolf Heinrichshofen, book cover, 1919 © Prinzhorn Collection