Self-Taught? Outsider? Folk? Visionary? What do these terms mean?
People have been arguing for decades about what to call art made by people outside the mainstream of international high art.
"‘Outsider Art is perhaps a catch-all term,’ explains Christie’s specialist Cara Zimmerman. ‘I tend to classify it as art made by people who weren’t working within the artistic establishment.' ...Most Outsider artists received no formal training and were influenced by pop culture and the world around them rather than other mainstream artists."
The various genres and sub-genres include:
- Art Brut or Raw Art: Usually refers to art made by the mentally ill or by people with developmental disabilities. Used more often in Europe than in the United States.
- Folk Art: According to folklorists, this should really only refer to artistic "traditions that are passed down from one person to another, often by word of mouth or informal mentoring." Often utilitarian, their making is part of a cultural continuum. Examples in the United States include weather vanes, quilts, furniture, and other household objects (see the Folk Traditions tab for more info). However, in the early 20th century, the term was co-opted to describe painting and sculpture made by untrained contemporary artists like William Edmondson, Ralph Fasenella, and Grandma Moses. Still used to some extent to describe those artists, but it's been supplanted by:
- Outsider Art: The preferred term by many right now. Originally coined in 1972 by Roger Cardinal as an American version of Art Brut, but has come to "refer to any artist who is untrained or with disabilities or suffering social exclusion, whatever the nature of their work." Begs the question "outside of what, exactly?" These artists may be fully integrated in their own communities, in which case the dealers, collectors, and scholars from elsewhere are the "outsiders." This is why other people prefer the term:
- Self-Taught Art: These terms are accurate (for the most part) and have fewer offensive connotations, especially compared to:
- Naive or Primitive Art: DON'T USE THESE. Obsolete terms, thought by many to be racist, classist, and condescending. You may still see them, especially in older sources.
- Visionary or Intuitive Art: Visionary refers to art works based on religious experiences and personal visions while intuitive implies work that bubbles up from inside, unbidden. As if trained artists can't also be intuitive or visionary? See? It's all so complicated. Sigh.
Some other opinions:
Raw Vision Magazine has an extensive history of terms: https://rawvision.com/pages/what-is-outsider-art
The Atlantic Magazine has an opinion: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/09/out-is-the-new-in/309428/
This guide provides library resources on outsider, self-taught, and folk art.
Collecting Worlds : contemporary international outsider art by 
Everyday Genius : self-taught art and the culture of authenticity by 
