PHOTO | BRUT: Collection Bruno Decharme & Compagnie presents the first international survey of self-taught photography. Gathering works dating from 1870 to the present by artists from various countries, the exhibition reveals the critical potential of this still relatively unexplored segment of the research on art brut. It includes four hundred works by more than forty artists (notably, Morton Bartlett, Lee Godie, Norma Oliver, Miroslav Tichý, and Marcel Bascoulard) with projections of never-before-printed images by Eugene Von Bruenchenhein and the Instagram transformations of Ichio Sugino. It also gathers assemblages made of photographs by Felipe Jesus Consalvos, Kazuo Handa, and Steve Ashby, and works relying heavily on the photographic process by Henry Darger and Leopold Strobl. This exhibition shines light on the innovative practices in the field of photography, offering fresh insight into the medium. The works have been selected from the exceptional collection of Bruno Decharme, as well as from the American Folk Art Museum, public institutions, and private collections.

This exhibition is co-produced by the American Folk Art Museum, abcd, and Les Rencontres d’Arles. It is curated by Valérie Rousseau, PhD, senior curator & curator of self-taught art and art brut, and Bruno Decharme, in collaboration with Paula Aisemberg, Barbara Safarova, and Sam Stourdzé.

A 320-page catalog (printed in English and French, 2019), published by Flammarion in collaboration with the American Folk Art Museum and abcd, is available at the Museum Shop. It includes contributions by the exhibition curators Bruno Decharme, Valérie Rousseau, Barbara Safarova, and Sam Stourdzé, and renowned specialists Michel Thévoz and Brian Wallis, among others.