Artistry of the Mentally Ill

Artistry of the Mentally Ill was a 1922 book by psychiatrist Hans Prinzhorn, and is known as the work that launched the field of psychiatric art. It was the first attempt to analyze the drawings of the mentally ill not merely psychologically, but also aesthetically.

In the book, Prinzhorn presents the works of ten "schizophrenic masters" from the Heidelberg collection, with in-depth aesthetic analysis of each and also full-color reproductions of their work. These ten masters were:

• Karl Brendel
• August Klotz
• Peter Moog
• August Neter
• Johann Knüpfer
• Viktor Orth
• Hermann Beil
• Heinrich Welz
• Joseph Sell
• Franz Pohl

Resources

• Hans Prinzhorn, Artistry of the mentally ill: a contribution to the psychology and psychopathology of configuration, translated by Eric von Brockdorff from the second German edition, with an introduction by James L. Foy, (Wien, New York: Springer-Verlag), 1972. ISBN 3-540-05508-8.