The artworks created by so-called outsider, art brut, and self-taught artists have fascinated collectors for decades. A new book, “The Hidden Art,” captures the evolution and growth of this art field, narrated through the outstanding collection that Audrey B. Heckler has assembled over the last 24 years. Organized into five sections - Masters, Art Brut and Self-Taught Artists in Europe, Southern American Self-Taught Favorites, American Classics, and 21st-Century Self-Taught Art Worldwide - this publication celebrates the individual contributions and legacy of self-taught artists with thoughtful essays by 32 renowned specialists of self-taught art, who represent the international scope and diversity underlying this collection.
Supported by the American Folk Art Museum since its founding in 1961, self-taught art has taken its rightful place in the pantheon of art history. “The Hidden Art” includes the works of 48 exceptional artists, many whose names are now familiar - Henry Darger, Thornton Dial, Madge Gill, Morris Hirshfield, Martín Ramírez, Bill Traylor, and Adolf Wölfli - and also less familiar artists.
In time for the book’s release, the American Folk Art Museum will be opening two exhibitions showcasing the works of two major self-taught artists contained in this volume: “Eugen Gabritschevsky: Theater of the Imperceptible (1893–1979)” and “Carlo Zinelli (1916–74).”
Both exhibitions, curated by Dr. Rousseau, will run from Tuesday, March 14, through Sunday, Aug. 20. They will represent the first major monographic exhibitions in the U.S. for these leading figures associated with art brut and self-taught art. A book launch is scheduled for Monday, April 3, at the American Folk Art Museum, with Heckler and contributors to the book in attendance.

About the authors and the collection.
Valérie Rousseau, Ph.D., is curator of self-taught art and art brut at the American Folk Art Museum. Jane Kallir is an author, curator, and co-director of New York’s Galerie St. Etienne. Anne-Imelda Radice, Ph.D., is executive director of the American Folk Art Museum. Audrey B. Heckler is a leading collector of works by self-taught artists of the 20th and 21st centuries and the president of the Foundation to Promote Self Taught Art.