| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立新竹教育大學 === 藝術教育與創作碩士班 === 102 === From time immemorial, madness has attracted human’s attention due to its ambiguous contradiction. Madman could be an unworldly prophet, a shaman who can communicate with spirits, or even a banished immoralist. Artists draw inspiration from primitive images or children’s drawings, some talented artists who suffer from manic disorder even became models of young artists (those who thirst for frenzied muse, gift from Dionysus). From artists’ perspective, madness is the fountain of inspiration and muse, and madmen are people whom they seek for. In 1920’s, doctor Prinzhorn released his study on the artistry of mental illness, this study had impacts on both expressionism and surrealism, and those images inspired many artists in psychological or pictorial way, and be reflected in their works later on.
There are three purposes on this thesis, first is to clarify the historical development of arts relating to madness. Second, to specify how madness affects artists’ mental and art practice. Third, the differences between works of artists (especially the artists who influenced by surrealism, expressionism or art of the insane) and works of madmen. The researcher hopes to clarify the reshaping of the concept of madness from time to time, and to understand the link between lunatic and genius’s creativity. This thesis mainly depends on reference research, seeking the madness material since medieval, and focuses on discussion of the madness in modern art. There are three main conclusions in this thesis. Firstly, according to the references, madness is treated in different ways in different times, due to the diverse expectations of cultures. Secondly, when the expectation of a whole society has been manipulated, it might lead such society into collective madness. Last but not least, even the pictorial elements made by artists might look similar to art works of the insane at the first glance, their motivation and logic of composition still could be remarkable for the differences of expression. Although clinical treatment has been progressed, mental illness hasn’t been controlled well, our society remains problems filled with insidious repression. By contrast to the crisis emerged from the long term society repression, those innocent and illogical behaviors from madmen might seem to be harmless.
Key words：Madness, Art of mental illness, Expressionism, Surrealism.
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