[TURKISH DUBUFFETS: ART BRUT OR OUTSIDER ART IN TURKEY] Istanbul Üniversitesi Tip Fakültesi Psikiyatri Klinigi Akil Hastalarinin Resim Sergisi [i.e., Art Exhibition of Mental Patients at the Psychiatry Clinic of Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine]

AKSEL, IHSAN SÜKRÜ (1899-1987); SÜLEYMAN VELIOGLU (1927-2001), KAZIM DAGYOLU (1912-1966).

Istanbul Üniversitesi Tip Fakültesi Psikiyatri Klinigi, Ismail Akgün Matbaasi, Istanbul, 1960.

Original white stapled wrappers. 12mo. (16 x 12 cm). In Turkish. 16 p.

Extremely rare first and only edition of this booklet published for the first “Art Brut” exhibition held in Turkey in 1960 by the Turkish Psychiatry Clinic of the Istanbul University, founded by Ihsan Sükrü Arsel, and the Psychopathological Art Laboratory founded by Velioglu and Dagyolu.

The booklet includes two leading articles which are the earliest ones in their subject in Turkey: Akil hastalarinin sanat mahsûlleri [i.e., Artworks by mentally ill people] by Aksel & Velioglu, and Akil hastalari ve psikopatolojik sanat [i.e., Mental patients and psychopathological art] by Dagyolu. 

Starting from the 1960s, Süleyman Velioglu and Kâzim Dagyolu began to share with the public the artworks made by patients in the Psychopathological Art Laboratory, which they established within the Istanbul University Psychiatry Clinic in 1957. Between 1960 and 1962, they published three books explaining how the products of patients in the institution were used for diagnosis and treatment and analysing the relationship between art and psychopathology by mobilizing all the theoretical knowledge of that period. In addition, two exhibitions including and exhibiting patients' artworks, opened first in Istanbul and then in Ankara, were visited by more than 350 thousand visitors. (Tura).

Art Brut was coined by Jean Dubuffet in the 1940s; the term translated literally from French means "raw art". 'Raw' is analogous in that it has not been through the academic 'cooking' process: i.e., the world of art schools, galleries, and museums. Dubuffet's original definition pertains strictly to the ‘raw art’ created by the autodidactic and shunned fringes of society. Dubuffet focused particularly on art by those on the outside of the established art scene, using as examples psychiatric hospital patients, hermits, and spiritualists.

As of December 2023, we couldn’t trace any copies in the OCLC and KVK.

Sources: BATUR, Enis. #tarih, No 108., TURA, Saffet Murat, Introduction to “Sizofren Bir Hastanin Sanat Ürünleri”., Wikipedia.