August Klotz
Encyclopedia
August Klotz was a German
schizophrenic outsider art
ist and one of the "schizophrenic masters" profiled by Hans Prinzhorn
in his field-defining work Artistry of the Mentally Ill
.
He was the son of a prosperous Swabia
n merchant, and worked in his father's business as a wine and champagne salesman for many years. Besides a case of gonorrhea
, he was healthy until an attack of influenza
in 1903, at which point he fell into a deep depression, involving hallucination
s and even self-mutilation.
He was placed in an asylum where he began drawing right away. He rubbed figures into his wallpaper with fat and called them "Freemason
signs." He may have also experienced an unusual form of grapheme-color synaesthesia in which letters correspond to numbers, which when added up correspond to colors. Klotz loved playing word games, and this same playfulness is also apparent in his drawings and watercolors.
Unlike most outsider artists, Klotz displayed little consistency in his work. Prinzhorn saw him as a shining example of the creative impulse at its most basic. "He always allows himself to be driven by momentary impulses so that his pictures generally incorporate the unconscious components of pictorial creation in a rare state of purity... he composes completely passively, almost as a spectator, and afterward tries to interpret his configurations" (Prinzhorn 1972, p. 143).
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
schizophrenic outsider art
Outsider Art
The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut , a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by insane-asylum inmates.While...
ist and one of the "schizophrenic masters" profiled by Hans Prinzhorn
Hans Prinzhorn
Hans Prinzhorn was a German psychiatrist and art historian.Born in Hemer, Westphalia, he studied art history and philosophy at the University of Vienna, receiving his doctorate in 1908. He then went to England to receive voice training, as he planned to become a professional singer...
in his field-defining work Artistry of the Mentally Ill
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...
.
He was the son of a prosperous Swabia
Swabia
Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...
n merchant, and worked in his father's business as a wine and champagne salesman for many years. Besides a case of gonorrhea
Gonorrhea
Gonorrhea is a common sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The usual symptoms in men are burning with urination and penile discharge. Women, on the other hand, are asymptomatic half the time or have vaginal discharge and pelvic pain...
, he was healthy until an attack of influenza
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
in 1903, at which point he fell into a deep depression, involving hallucination
Hallucination
A hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid,...
s and even self-mutilation.
He was placed in an asylum where he began drawing right away. He rubbed figures into his wallpaper with fat and called them "Freemason
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
signs." He may have also experienced an unusual form of grapheme-color synaesthesia in which letters correspond to numbers, which when added up correspond to colors. Klotz loved playing word games, and this same playfulness is also apparent in his drawings and watercolors.
Unlike most outsider artists, Klotz displayed little consistency in his work. Prinzhorn saw him as a shining example of the creative impulse at its most basic. "He always allows himself to be driven by momentary impulses so that his pictures generally incorporate the unconscious components of pictorial creation in a rare state of purity... he composes completely passively, almost as a spectator, and afterward tries to interpret his configurations" (Prinzhorn 1972, p. 143).
Resources
- Prinzhorn, Hans. Artistry of the mentally ill: a contribution to the psychology and psychopathology of configuration. Trans. Eric von Brockdorff. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag, 1972. ISBN 3-540-05508-8.