Abstract
The term ‘visionary’ has been used as an adjective to describe several prophetic, genius, and spiritual artworks yet the term is not sufficiently defined in art term glossaries or on mainstream platforms. This exclusion is a curious omission and needs addressing. The term is applied to artists such as Leonardo de Vinci, Hilma af Klint, Francisco Goya and more recently, Alex Grey. On the surface, these artists have truly little in common, so why is this term used to describe their unique and challenging creations? My research considers how useful a Jungian oriented framework is in developing an appreciation of Visionary Art. I establish that there is currently a deficient understanding of the topic within Critical Art Theory. This opinion is based on researching relevant material and investigating the lack of presence of the genre on mainstream platforms. In response to the inconsistent definitions as well as a tendency toward exclusion of Visionary Art, I suggest that using the concepts of analytical psychology could potentially provide a more coherent explanation and understanding of the genre. Alongside this assertion, I also propose a new way of categorizing visionary artworks using a gradation scale based on the characteristics of pictorial configuration. This study is based on an important historical text by psychiatrist and art historian Hanz Prinzhorn, titled Artistry of the Mentally Ill (1922), a text which Jung himself possessed in his private library.
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
KEYWORDS
DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY, CRITICAL ART THEORY, PAINTING, VISIONARY ART, CREATIVE PROCESS
