More Art of the Insane

Following up on Paul's post yesterday about the Electric Pencil. Here's some art created by patients in the criminally insane ward of St. Elizabeth Hospital in Washington D.C., mid-1930s.

A "working model of the fourth dimension," examined by Dr. John E. Lind.

A lion (top) and a man on a horse (bottom), created by a "shellshocked, cop-killing veteran" out of chewed toilet paper, hair from clothes and blankets, and cellophane. "Jealous of his accomplishments, the veteran guards his work as assiduously as a setting hen; it must be taken from him while he is asleep."

A locomotive (top) and "something that looks like a caricature of a capitalist" (bottom) drawn by "a mental 10-year-old."

Source: Newsweek - Jan 9, 1937

Also see the earlier post, Art of the Insane, to compare artwork from patients at St. Anne Hospital in France, mid-1940s.

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Alex - Wed Mar 30, 2016
Category: Art | 1930s

Comments

The bottom 2 are worthy of Picasso.

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 03/30/16 at 09:40 AM

"...a working model of the fourth dimension..." Who's to say it is not a working model?

The sculptures are better than what passes for art today.

At the last two panels I thought of the old Zapp Comix series that were published in the late 1960's. And Peter Max. And the "Yellow Submarine" animation.

Posted by KDP on 03/30/16 at 02:12 PM

The equation for creativity has to include the variable of some percentage of crazy.

Posted by BrokeDad in Midwest US on 03/30/16 at 04:27 PM

I agree, BD.

Posted by KDP on 03/30/16 at 05:45 PM

It's an interesting idea to use cellophane as a part of his sculpture. Heretofore I thought its only contribution to the arts was as a substitute for the sound of fire, as in The Further Adventures of Nick Danger ("... they must be dry by now. Why don't you pull them up out of the cellophane before they scorch.").

Posted by Fritz G on 03/31/16 at 09:10 AM

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