Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art

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Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the understanding of and appreciation for intuitive and outsider art through a program of education and exhibition. Since its founding in 1991, Intuit has emerged as an international leader in the field of outsider art. Intuit boasts a worldwide membership, a published magazine The Outsider, and a growing and respected permanent collection. Intuit is located at 756 N Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, Illinois.

Mission

Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art promotes public awareness, understanding, and appreciation of intuitive and outsider art through education, exhibition, collecting and publishing. Intuit defines ‘outsider art’ as the work of artists who demonstrate little influence from the mainstream art world, and who instead are motivated by their unique personal vision. This definition includes art brut, non-traditional folk art, self-taught art, and visionary art.

History

Early in 1991, discussions began in Chicago concerning the formation of a group dedicated to art by untrained artists – art often known as intuitive or outsider art. A group of artists, gallery owners, art collectors, business people, and arts patrons organized a public gathering attended by more than 80 people. The result was the founding of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. Since that time, Intuit has grown steadily, boasting more than 600 members from the U.S. and abroad. The organization’s record presenting cutting-edge exhibitions and unique educational programs have led to its international reputation as a leader in the field of outsider art. Though its influence is recognized worldwide, Intuit’s Chicago roots reflect the important role the city has played as the home to many self-taught and outsider artists, and collectors. Intuit has helped foster a dramatic increase in collecting outsider art, as well as the popular interest in, and academic awareness of outsider art. Intuit has hosted more than 80 exhibitions, and scores of lectures, film screenings, art fairs, panel presentations, performances, and other programs. Study tours sponsored by Intuit have led groups to visit art environments, artists, private collections, museums, and galleries in locations including: Europe, New Mexico, Texas (The Orange Show), Kansas, Wisconsin, and other sites in Illinois.

Several years after it’s founding, Intuit decided to expand its role to become a collecting organization. Since 2002, Intuit has added works by such self-taught artists as: Henry Darger, Howard Finster, Sister Gertrude Morgan, Minnie Evans, Joseph Yoakum, Justin McCarthy, Oswald Tschirtner, P.M. Wentworth, Johann Hauser, Dwight Mackintosh, Mr. Imagination, William Hawkins, Chris Hipkiss, and Lee Godie. Other exhibitions have featured such exceptional items as tattoo flash, sock monkeys, objects made from Popsicle sticks, and bottle caps. The organization also began a nontraditional (intuitive) music series, and an annual outsider art fair, originally held in early October.

In 2008, Intuit dedicated the Henry Darger Room Collection in an effort to expand its on-site study center resources. The Henry Darger Room Collection is an evocation of the living space from the small Chicago apartment in which the reclusive artist lived. The Henry Darger Room Collection offers an intimate glimpse into the personal life of the reclusive artist.

Henry Darger Room Collection

In spring 2000, Intuit took possession of the contents of artist Henry Darger’s living and working space, which was located at 851 Webster Street in Chicago. Intuit’s Henry Darger Room Collection includes tracings, source materials and clippings from newspapers, magazines, comic books, cartoons, children’s books, coloring books, personal documents; as well as architectural elements, fixtures, and furnishings from Darger’s actual residence.^[1]

Darger lived in a one-room apartment in Chicago’s Lincoln Park until 1973 when he retired to a nursing facility. In his small room—which doubled as his studio and home for close to 40 years—he worked on a large number of painted and collaged drawings that illustrated the story of the Vivian Girls, created volumes of writings, and collected hundreds of objects (shoes, eyeglasses, balls of string, etc.). The contrast between the intimate scale of the room and the staggering volume of drawings, illustrations, writings, and collections, conveys vital information about Darger’s existence and the work he created.

The goal of the permanent exhibit at Intuit is to create a resource that provides a window to Darger’s world. The installation symbolizes the stark contrasts that are so vividly portrayed in Darger’s vast and complex oeuvre. Experiencing Darger’s personal environment through the installation provides an important link to the man who struggled relentlessly throughout his life to give expression to the polarized spectrum of humanity. The archive and material represents a vital resource and the installation enhances the understanding and appreciation of the art of Henry Darger by providing artists, scholars, and the public access to a unique and innovative archive of study materials.

Exhibitions

2009

Freaks & Flash; featuring the art of tattoo flash and circus banners; September 11, 2009 through January 9, 2010 [1]
Culprits, Innocents & Outsiders: Heartland Visions; art by 7 self-taught artists including: William Hawkins, Elijah Pierce, Mary Borkowski, Mary Merrill, Morris Ben Newman, David Pond, and Ernest "Popeye" Reed; April 29 - August 29, 2009; for more information also see link to Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc. exhibition listing [2] [3]
The Picture Tells the Story: The Drawings of Joseph E. Yoakum; January 16 through January 9, 2010 [4]
Sticks; focus on the common stick in art; January 16 - April 18, 2009 [5]

2008

Finding Beauty: The Art of Lee Godie; September 12, 2008 - January 3, 2009 [6]
Chris Hipkiss: Drawings; April 23 - August 30, 2008 [7]
Henry Darger Exhibition; January 18 - June 28, 2008[8]

Publications

The Outsider[9]
The official publication of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art is The Outsider magazine. The Outsider provides scholarly articles about and in-depth coverage of important discoveries in the field of outsider art, as well as news about Intuit's exhibits, programs and special events.[10] It is estimated that the worldwide readership of The Outsider magazine exceeds 8,000.

References

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External links

• Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art (Chicago) Official site