Exhibiting the art of the mentally ill in Russia in the 1900s-1960s in the context of outsider art

The aim of this research is to analyze the exhibiting of the art of the mentally ill in Russia in the 1900s-1960s within the context of outsider art. The article notes the prerequisites for a change in the optics of perception of the art of the mentally ill and examines the works of patients of psychiatric institutions primarily from an aesthetic point of view. Particular attention is paid to the 1926 exhibition of the art of the mentally ill at the Polytechnic Museum and the 1966 Documenta Psychopathologica exhibition, which brought together the works of patients from different countries. The scientific novelty of the research lies in identifying these exhibition events as precursors to the formation of outsider art in Russia, indicating the possibility of exchanging experience and materials on the art of the mentally ill between foreign and domestic researchers, and establishing the results of exhibiting the art of the mentally ill based on archival documents, in particular, information about Documenta Psychopathologica is published for the first time. The research reveals that the exhibition at the Polytechnic Museum, organized in 1926 by P. I. Karpov, and the international project Documenta Psychopathologica in 1966 are an important part of the history of the formation of outsider art in Russia; they created the necessary preliminary conditions for the transition of pathological creativity from the category of "non-art" to "art."