This is a tribute to my mother, Else Margrethe Widerberg, who died
in 2006, and her brother, Frans (Frantz Gustav) Widerberg, who will
turn 80 in 2014. He is a successful Norwegian artist, famous for
his colorful pictures of horses and riders. The book indicates how
their upbringing in a dysfunctional family influenced on their
lives and on his art. Critics basically has misunderstood his art,
because they don't know about his upbringing in an incestual
family. I know the story, and with that in mind it's not difficult
to see that his art most of all is a kind of self-therapy. Although
art therapy is a relatively young therapeutic discipline, its roots
lie in the use of the arts in the 'moral treatment' of psychiatric
patients in the late 18th century and in a re-evaluation of the art
of non-western art and of the art of untrained artists and of the
insane. Art therapy as a profession began in the mid-20th century,
arising independently in English-speaking and European countries.
The early art therapists who published accounts of their work
acknowledged the influence of aesthetics, psychiatry,
psychoanalysis, rehabilitation, early childhood education, and art
education, to varying degrees, on their practices. The British
artist Adrian Hill coined the term 'art therapy' in 1942. Hill,
recovering from tuberculosis in a sanatorium, discovered the
therapeutic benefits of drawing and painting while convalescing. He
wrote that the value of art therapy lay in "completely engrossing
the mind (as well as the fingers)...releasing the creative energy
of the frequently inhibited patient," which enabled the patient to
"build up a strong defence against his misfortunes." He suggested
artistic work to his fellow patients. That began his art therapy
work, which was documented in 1945 in his book, Art Versus Illness.
The artist Edward Adamson (1911-1996), recently demobilised after
WW2, joined Adrian Hill to extend Hill's work to the British long
stay mental hospitals. Other early proponents of art therapy in
Britain include E. M. Lyddiatt, Michael Edwards, and Rita Simon.
The British Association of Art Therapists was founded in 1964. U.S.
art therapy pioneers Margaret Naumburg and Edith Kramer began
practicing at around the same time as Hill. Naumburg, an educator,
asserted that "art therapy is psychoanalytically oriented" and that
free art expression "becomes a form of symbolic speech
which...leads to an increase in verbalization in the course of
therapy." Edith Kramer, an artist, pointed out the importance of
the creative process, psychological defenses, and artistic quality,
writing that "sublimation is attained when forms are created that
successfully contain...anger, anxiety, or pain." Other early
proponents of art therapy in the United States include Elinor
Ulman, Robert "Bob" Ault, and Judith Rubin. The American Art
Therapy Association was founded in 1969. National professional
associations of art therapy exist in many countries, including
Brazil, Canada, Finland, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, Romania,
South Korea, and Sweden. International networking contributes to
the establishment of standards for education and practice. Diverse
perspectives exist on history of art therapy, which complement
those that focus on the institutionalization of art therapy as a
profession in Britain and the United States. Art therapy and
outsider art The relation between the fields of Art Therapy and
Outsider Art has been widely debated. The term 'Art Brut' was first
coined by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created
outside the boundaries of official culture. Dubuffet used the term
'Art brut' to focus on artistic practice by insane-asylum patients.
The English translation Outsider Art was first used by art critic
Roger Cardinal in 1972.
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