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Arthur Bispo do Rosário, an Emblematic Art Brut/Outsider Creator

Arthur Bispo do Rosário, Eu Preciso Destas Palavras. Escrita (I Need This Words in Writing), Museu Bispo do Rosário Collection. Photography: Rodrigo Lopes

Essay Publish date: 10 aug 2023

Written by Edward Gómez  

This text is part of Afterall Journal Issue 54 ‘Voicings’ which interrogates and challenge the imposition of normative or dominant modes of being, perception and expression.

In the annals of the overlapping fields of Art Brut and Outsider Art, the accomplishments of the Brazilian artist Arthur Bispo do Rosário are still being analysed and critically assessed. Nevertheless, since his work began attracting international attention in the 1990s, its place in the collective canon of these related art-genre categories has been secured. The character and quality of his oeuvre, along with the circumstances in which it was produced, have been recognised as emblematic of the kinds of art forms that can properly be assigned the Art Brut or Outsider Art labels.

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