The mind unleashed
BMJ 1996; 313 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.313.7071.1561 (Published 14 December 1996) Cite this as: BMJ 1996;313:1561- Sean Spence
“Outsider art”—the collective term for the art of “insane,” imprisoned, or handicapped people—is undergoing a mini-Renaissance at present with the reemergence of periodicals and monographs devoted to the subject. Historically, psychiatrists began to note their patients' works when they themselves became more humane. Thus, the first modern accounts belong to Pinel and Rush, the philanthropists of psychiatry: Pinel removed the chains from the inmates of La Salpetriere, while Rush championed the “moral treatment” of the mentally ill in America.
Hans Prinzhorn, born on 8 June 1886, assembled the collection that bears his name while …
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