Could “raw photography” be classified as art brut (“raw art”), as defined by Jean Dubuffet? If so, it would include shots, prints, photomontages and photo collages created by self-taught artists, developed outside of conventional art circles, in contexts such as mental institutions, solitude and marginality, both in cities and rural areas. Photo|Brut presents more than 500 works from the Bruno Decharme collection, as well as a selection of other institutional and private collections chosen for their complementarity. This exhibition addresses four central themes (“Private Affairs”, “Reformating the world”, “Performing, or another I”, “Warding off the reality”) and its aim is to grasp and introduce this art form to the public, art brut being a concept studied by few despite its significant and fascinating field.


With works by Horst Ademeit, Shell L. Alpert, Steve Ashby, Morton Bartlett, Marcel Bascoulard, John Brill, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, Felipe Jesus Consalvos, Aloïse Corbaz, Jesuys Crystiano, Henry Darger, Charles Dellschau, John Devlin, Curzio Di Giovanni, Fumiho Endo, Karel Forman, Frédéric, Pepe Gaitán, Giovanni Galli, Pietro Ghizzardi, Lee Godie, Yohann Goetzmann, Kasuo Handa, Marian Henel, Mark Hogancamp, Paul Humphrey, Günter K., Zdenek Košek, Alexandre Lobanov, Tomasz Machciński, « Margret », Alexandre Medvedev, Donald Mitchell, Albert Moser, Edward Nadgrodzki, Norma Oliver, Photographies Spirites, Luboš Plný, Ilmari Salminen, Milton Schwartz, Ted Serios, Valentin Simankov, Leopold Strobl, Ichiwo Sugino, Elke Tangeten, Dominique Théate, Miroslav Tichý, Ufos, Elisabeth Van Vyve, August Walla, Melvin Way, Adolf Wölfli, Zorro, and numerous anonymous persons.