The Prinzhorn Collection - psychiatric clinic art with international standing

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The Prinzhorn Collection Psychiatric Clinic Art with International Standing

T

homas Rdske

Hans Prinzhorn (1886-1933)

0The Prinzhorn Collection Dating back to a post World War I pro- ject led by the art historian and psychiatrist Hans Prinzhorn (1886-1933), thefa- mous Prinzhorn Collection is based on over 5,000 works created by psychiatric clinic inmates in German speaking countries between 1850 and 1930. Since the 1980's, the fund has been enriched by approximately 12,000 new works by

"psychiatrically experienced people"

from 1900 to the present. In 2001, the Collection was moved to its own museum, in a converted late 19th century lecture hall building (► image).

The Prinzhorn Collection in the general psychiatric department of the University Clinic in Heidelberg is world famous for its fund of institutional art.

It contains over 5000 sketches, paint- ings, sculptures, and textile works origi- nating from the period, between 1850 and 1930 from a variety of psychiatric institutions, clinics, and sanatoriums, mainly in German speaking countries.

The majority were sent to Heidelberg in the early 1920s in response to an appeal by the art historian and physician Hans Prinzhorn.

Alternative Worldview: the former businessman Heinrich Grebing's (1879-1940) depiction of his imaginary commercial empire

History of the Prinzhorn Collection In 1919, the then head of the psychiatric department, Karl Wilmanns (1873-

1945), appointed Hans Prinzhorn assistant doctor in Heidelberg. It was his task to expand the small teaching collection that had been started between 1890 and 1903 by Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926), and to evaluate it in a sci- entific study. Prinzhorn’s book Artistry of the Mentally 111 was published in

1922. The exceptionally elaborately produced and richly illustrated volume aroused curiosity amongst many art lov- ers for the often astoundingly original works of art by individuals who had been marginalised as “insane”, wh’ich until then had barely been noticed. Re- garded as a classic, this pioneering work has been reprinted many times.

After Prinzhorn’s departure in 1922, the senior physician Hans Gruhle took over the collection. He accepted further donations and organised exhihitions at home and abroad. Between 1933 and

1945, some of the Heidelberg works were only on view once as “reference material” as part of the travelling exhi-

Subjective view of a psychiatric clinic; Franz Kleber, site plan of the Karthaus Prull psychiatric clinic in Regensburg, circa 1880-1896

The Prinzhorn Collection Museum in Heidelberg

bition “Entartete Kunst” (“Degenerate Art”), which was on display in several German towns between 1938 and 1941.

After the war, interest in the collection did not awaken again until 1963 when the Swiss exhibition organiser and Museum Director Harald Szeemann (1933-2005) presented 250 works on loan from Heidelberg in the Kunsthalle Bern. In 1966, the psychiatrist Maria Rave-Schwank took over the collection and organised further small exhibitions.

In 1973, the post of curator for the collection was created for the physician Inge Jarchov, later Jadi. Under her man- agement and with the aid of the Volkswagen Foundation the works of art were preserved and scientifically documented. In 1980, the first large travelling exhibition took place, return- ing the collection to fame in Germany.

In 1984/85 and 2000, further travelling

exhibitions were to be seen in US cities and in 1996/97 in Europe.

The collection today

It was not until 2001 that the collection’s own museum finally opened in a converted 19th century lecture building (► image). The author was made director of the museum in 2002. Since then the situation has changed radically.

Two to three temporary exhibitions ad- dressing topics from the field of “psy- chological crisis and art” are shown each year. The exhibits mostly come from the historical Prinzhorn Collec- tion. The exhibitions are accompanied by meetings, lectures, readings, con- certs, and performances. Requests from other museums and exhibition institutions are now accommodated more than in the past. Thus, works from the collection can be seen abroad, either in

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Wissenschaftsatlas ofHeidelberg University

Originalveröffentlichung in: Meusburger, Peter (Hrsg.): Wissenschaftsatlas of Heidelberg University : spatio-temporal relations of academic knowledge production, Knittlingen 2012, S. 244-245

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exhibitions dedicated to the Heidelberg collection, or as works on loan to the- matic exhibitions where they are shown alongside other exhibits. The map O clearly shows that in recent years the museum has, in this way, been able to build on its international reputation.

Expansion of the collection Since 1980, the collection has been added to, often in the form of gifts, sometimes in the form of permanent loans, and rarely in the form of pur- chases. By 2001 the collection had

grown by more than 10,000 works, mainly from the years 1960 to 2000.

Since then the collection has been ex- panding by up to 100 works per year.

On the one hand the collection needs to keep up with modern developments to prevent it becoming stuck in history.

On the other hand there will be an increased focus on ensuring that art from the decades between 1930 and 1960 is represented.

Since the opening of the museum, there have also been more publications with the latest findings from cultural

history research into the collection, mostly in the form of catalogues accom- panying exhibitions. In addition, interest from external researchers from dif- ferent fields has increased. In recent years, theses, examination papers, and other publications have been written in art and cultural history, medicine, psy- chology, German studies, and other dis- ciplines on the subject of the Prinzhorn collection. Artists, writers, and com- posers explore works or groups of works from the collection and allow them- selves to be inspired.

Outlook

The developments in recent years have made the need for an extension more pressing. Alongside storage areas, this will provide space for a permanent exhibition of classics, a graphics room where visitors will be able to request to view works, a specialist library and bookshop on the subject of “outsider art”. This will allow the Prinzhorn Col- lection to meet the increasing require- ments of an exhibition centre and research establishment in the future>

o Worldwide Prinzhorn Collection exhibition venues 1921 -2011

pLake Onega

2003 Schls^yig O'

1980 1981 1990 2000 2003 2004 2008/09 K B&lin

O v

Lake Beloye Lake\

tLadoga

>aimaa

1980 2007 Hamburg Paijanne

Lmalaren'

Lake llmen Lake

'Peipus

Jtavanger IVanern

2002 1992 2003 2008 2005^ Bochum Diissel- i dorf/

Skagerrak Vattern

— 1999

■■ 2006/07 Leipzig 2011

(X)Dresden v Herford

'O 1986 Hemer 2009 O Marburg I

(J Kassel 2007/08 (

Erfurt | 2006 ; 2008 2010/1W

‘Fr^nRfuft a.M.

2006 O Newcastle

7 2007

Manchgster

Mem©/

2006

Dublin Weimaf Chemnitz

193Qf’ Darmstac 1986 Ludwigshafen

19321 Speyer-5 2003/04

2005/06 2006/07 2007 2006

2009 ’ London—

2007 O Bexhill-on-Sea

Mannheim

Waldenburg

1 Mechel^ I3/94 2009 \*E

jnburg'-lBotteh- \ ^ 'MO tlll/90 2002 2005-07 2006 Stuttgart

•(see s *

enlarged 2009 fiap section) Praha

Mlinchen 1980 u

1986 1986 1996 1996 ab 2001 2002/03 2006 2006/07 2007 Heidelberg Charleroi

Kaufbeuren

^alzburg

permanent exhibition 2009

Admont Balaton

Scale 1 : 12 500 000 Gen^ve

Caspian Sea

Donau

Ligurian

i Lake Urmia 1993

2006 Madrid (J)

2001 Barcelona

2011 Thessaloniki (Saloniki)(

Tyrrhenian Sea

1981 1992

1996 ] Osnabrim

° cr

2010

(J Hannover )

J

2008 onno /nn

1998/99 Katonah

8

■NewYork

2004 Washington

Number of exhibitions with exhibits from the Prinzhorn collection

1980 1993

year of exhibition (list corresponds to the order of segments)

Time period in which the exhibition took place exclusive exhibition loan to special exhibition

O A 1921-1933 ◄ 1929

O O

^1953-2000

o o

^1963-2000

o o

^{since 2001}

o o

^{since 2001}

■tffe Cartographers: H. Kirschner, V. Schreiner Autnor: i. Hoske

The Prinzhom Collection - Psychiatric Clinic Art with Intemational Standing