Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art
Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the understanding of and appreciation for intuitive and outsider art through a program of education and exhibition. Since its founding in 1991, Intuit has emerged as an international leader in the field of outsider art. Intuit boasts a worldwide membership, a published magazine The Outsider, and a growing and respected permanent collection. Intuit is located at 756 N Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, Illinois in West Town, Chicago.
Mission
Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art promotes public awareness, understanding, and appreciation of intuitive and outsider art through education, exhibition, collecting and publishing. Intuit defines ‘outsider art’ as the work of artists who demonstrate little influence from the mainstream art world, and who instead are motivated by their unique personal vision. This definition includes art brut, non-traditional folk art, self-taught art, and visionary art.History
Early in 1991, discussions began in Chicago concerning the formation of a group dedicated to art by untrained artists – art often known as intuitive or outsider art. A group of artists, gallery owners, art collectors, business people, and arts patrons organized a public gathering attended by more than 80 people. The result was the founding of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. Since that time, Intuit has grown steadily, boasting more than 600 members from the U.S. and abroad. The organization’s record presenting cutting-edge exhibitions and unique educational programs has led to its international reputation as a leader in the field of outsider art. Though its influence is recognized worldwide, Intuit’s Chicago roots reflect the important role the city has played as the home to many self-taught and outsider artists, and collectors. Intuit has helped foster a dramatic increase in collecting outsider art, as well as the popular interest in, and academic awareness of outsider art. Intuit has hosted more than 80 exhibitions, and scores of lectures, film screenings, art fairs, panel presentations, performances, and other programs. In 1997, Intuit presented Images in a Silent World: The Art of James Castle, the first major exhibition of the artist's works east of the Mississippi. Study tours sponsored by Intuit have led groups to visit art environments, artists, private collections, museums, and galleries in locations including: Europe, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, Indiana, Wisconsin, and other sites in Illinois.Several years after its founding, Intuit decided to expand its role to become a collecting organization. Since 2002, the collection has grown to more than 1,100 works of art, including such self-taught artists as: Henry Darger, Howard Finster, Martin Ramirez, Sister Gertrude Morgan, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, Bill Traylor, James Castle, Scottie Wilson, Nek Chand, Minnie Evans, Joseph Yoakum, Justin McCarthy, Oswald Tschirtner, P.M. Wentworth, Johann Hauser, Dwight Mackintosh, Mr. Imagination, William Hawkins, Wesley Willis, Dr. Charles Smith, Lee Godie, and Chris Hipkiss. Other exhibitions have featured such exceptional items as tattoo flash, sock monkeys, objects made from Popsicle sticks, and bottle caps. The organization also began a nontraditional music series, and an annual outsider art fair, originally held in early October.
In 2008, Intuit dedicated the Henry Darger Room Collection in an effort to expand its on-site study center resources. The Henry Darger Room Collection is an evocation of the living space from the small Chicago apartment in which the reclusive artist lived. The Henry Darger Room Collection offers an intimate glimpse into the personal life of the reclusive artist.
Henry Darger Room Collection
In spring 2000, Intuit took possession of the contents of artist Henry Darger’s living and working space, which was located at 851 Webster Street in Chicago. Intuit’s Henry Darger Room Collection includes tracings, source materials and clippings from newspapers, magazines, comic books, cartoons, children’s books, coloring books, personal documents; as well as architectural elements, fixtures, and furnishings from Darger’s actual residence.Darger lived in a one-room apartment in Chicago’s Lincoln Park until 1973 when he retired to a nursing facility. In his small room—which doubled as his studio and home for close to 40 years—he worked on a large number of painted and collaged drawings that illustrated the story of the Vivian Girls, created volumes of writings, and collected hundreds of objects. The contrast between the intimate scale of the room and the staggering volume of drawings, illustrations, writings, and collections, conveys vital information about Darger’s existence and the work he created.
The goal of the permanent exhibit at Intuit is to create a resource that provides a window to Darger’s world. The installation symbolizes the stark contrasts that are so vividly portrayed in Darger’s vast and complex oeuvre. Experiencing Darger’s personal environment through the installation provides an important link to the man who struggled relentlessly throughout his life to give expression to the polarized spectrum of humanity. The archive and material represents a vital resource and the installation enhances the understanding and appreciation of the art of Henry Darger by providing artists, scholars, and the public access to a unique and innovative archive of study materials.
Exhibitions
2018
Chicago Calling: Art Against the Flow; June 29, 2018 – January 6, 2019Chicago We Own It; June 29, 2018 – January 6, 2019
Teacher Fellowship Program Student Exhibition; May 19-June 17, 2018
To Be Seen and Heard; March 23-June 10, 2018
Stephen Warde Anderson: Attention to Detail; January 26-May 13, 2018
Philip Carey: Art in My Veins; March 22-May 13, 2018
Black Voices from the Collection; February 9-March 18, 2018
In the Land of Pasaquan: The Story of Eddie Owens Martin; December 22, 2017 – March 11, 2018
2017
Henry Darger's Orphans and the Construction of Race; July 14, 2017 – January 14, 2018Dapper Bruce Lafitte: Kingpin of the Antpin; October 12-December 17, 2017
Darger + War: Violence and Loss in Self-Taught Art; September 15-December 10, 2017
Mark Francis: Sculptures from the Inside; August 3-October 8, 2017
Betwixt and Between: Henry Darger's Vivian Girls; April 12-September 4, 2017
Henry Darger: Source Materials; March 2-July 23, 2017
Teacher Fellowship Program Student Exhibition; June 3-July 4, 2017
Henry Darger: Author/Artist; January 20-May 29, 2017
Unreal Realms; January 20-March 26, 2017
2012
Karl Wirsum Eyeballs the Intuit Collection; July 13, 2012 - September 1, 2012Heaven + Hell; a collaborative exhibition with LUMA, the Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago; February 10, 2012 - June 30, 2012
2011
Eugene Von Bruenchenhein: From the Wand of the Genii; September 16, 2011 - January 14, 2012Architecture of Hope – the Treasures of Intuit; January 21 – May 14, 2011; curated by Roger Manley
2010
Life Lines: The Drawings of Charles Steffen; an exhibition of later works by the Illinois artist, drawn from the period 1989-1994; June 4-August 28, 2010The Treasure of Ulysses Davis: Sculpture from a Savannah Barbershop; a retrospective exhibition of works by Ulysses Davis; February 12- May 15, 2010
2009
Freaks & Flash; featuring the art of tattoo flash and circus banners; September 11, 2009 through January 9, 2010Culprits, Innocents & Outsiders: Heartland Visions; art by 7 self-taught artists including: William Hawkins, Elijah Pierce, Mary Borkowski, Mary Merrill, Morris Ben Newman, David Pond, and Ernest "Popeye" Reed; April 29 - August 29, 2009; for more information also see link to Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc. exhibition listing
The Picture Tells the Story: The Drawings of Joseph E. Yoakum; January 16 through January 9, 2010
Sticks; focus on the common stick in art; January 16 - April 18, 2009
2008
Finding Beauty: The Art of Lee Godie; September 12, 2008 - January 3, 2009Chris Hipkiss: Drawings; April 23 - August 30, 2008
Henry Darger Exhibition; January 18 - June 28, 2008
Other notable exhibitions
Tools of Her Ministry: The Art of Sister Gertrude Morgan; February 11 - May 28, 2005I’ll Fly Away; featuring the Art of Albert Zahn; December 13, 2003 - February 28, 2004
Sam Doyle; November 9, 2001 - March 30, 2002
Images in a Silent World: The Art of James Castle; January 19-March 15, 1997
Publications
The OutsiderThe official publication of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art is The Outsider magazine. The Outsider provides scholarly articles about and in-depth coverage of important discoveries in the field of outsider art, as well as news about Intuit's exhibits, programs and special events. It is estimated that the worldwide readership of The Outsider magazine exceeds 8,000.
Exhibition catalogues
In addition to its magazine,The Outsider, Intuit periodically publishes exhibition catalogues which can be obtained through contacting the organization. Among these include:Heaven + Hell
Introduction by Cleo Wilson, Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art and Pamela Ambrose, Loyola University Chicago
Essay by Jerry Bleem, O.F.M., soft-bound, 52 color illustrations, 32 pages, 2012
Architecture of Hope: The Treasures of Intuit
Features an essay by curator, Roger Manley, Gregg Museum of Art & Design at North Carolina State University in collaboration with Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art; Introduction by Cleo Wilson, Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art; soft-bound, 25 color illustrations, 32 pages, 2010
Finding Beauty: The Art of Lee Godie
Essay by Jessica Moss, Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art; soft-bound, 20 color and 12 b/w illustrations, 28 pages, 2008
Yoakum
Essay by Mark Pascale, Art Institute of Chicago; soft-bound, 27 color illustrations, 24 pages, 2009