From 1954 Leo NAVRATIL (1921-2006) let his patients draw along certain criteria. He was the director of a male psychiatric ward in the Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Gugging (Sanatorium and Care Home) at the time. During his studies he had become acquainted with a special type of diagnostic drawing tests (Karen MACHOVER, 1949). Navratil adapted and expanded the rules of those tests. From a contemporary point of view, neither the scientific nor the therapeutic value of this examination method can be confirmed. However, the actual astounding result was that over the years some of his patients produced drawings and writings of a peculiar and completely unexpected quality. As a result, Navratil proceeded to include the terms of creativity and art in his research on “Psychopathology of Expression”
His professional models were, among others, two doctors: the Swiss Walter MORGENTHALER (1921) and the German Hans PRINZHORN (1922). Both had created a great interest in the 1920s with the publications of their documentary and partly scientific books on the subject “Art and Mental Illness”. Yet the cultural side of the avantgarde seemed a lot more intrigued than the world of science. Social, technological and cultural movements of the time had an enormous impact and shifted the artists’ attention towards the intellectual margins of society. They looked upon the creative endeavours of those who appeared unmoved by the latest trends: native tribes, children and the "mentally insane”.
The year 1965 saw the publication of Navratil’s first book: “Schizophrenie und Kunst” (Schizophrenia and Art). But just as with his two predecessors, the scientific world was not that interested in this work – never the less, it lead to number contacts with committed Austrian artists and writers: Arnulf RAINER, Peter PONGRATZ, Franz RINGEL, Ernst JANDL, and others. They came to visit Navratil in Gugging, supported and encouraged him and recognized the extraordinary artistic value in many of the drawings and writings. Jean DUBUFET also supported Navratils discoveries. He promptly labelled some of the patients as representatives of → Art Brut.
In 1970 the first great sales exhibition was launched in the renowned Viennese Galerie nächst St. Stephan. Encouraged by the enormous success of this exhibition and the appreciation of his work, Navratil further developed his project over the following years. Numerous books, text- and film contributions were published on the subject “Art and Psychosis”. He donated works to some important collections and organised several exhibitions.
In 1981 Navratils long-hedged wish for a separate living are finally came true. 18 of the patients moved into an empty building, Pavillion 11, on top of the hill on the outskirts of the clinic. By now Navratil had come to regard the cooperation with his “Artist-Patients” as → art therapy. He always kept a careful and sceptical view on the creative output of his patients, considering it → "Condition-Related Art". Thus he named this house Centre for Art-Psychotherapy.
- Center for Art-Psychotherapie
1981
The year 1986 saw a fundamental change-over. Leo Navratil retired, and Johann FEILACHER, artist and doctor, succeeded him as director of the house. His first change was to re-name the building. Feilacher baptized it House of Artists – this gesture denoting an important transformation of the project. The residents were now officially and primarily regarded as artists, their illness having become a private matter. Hence he refused to analyse `insane´ elements within the portrayals and writings by the Guggingers.
As a consequence of his stance, Feilacher produced almost exclusively artistic books and exhibition catalogues. He promoted the works’ presence within the international art world and triggered a broad wave of interest, enhancing the Artists’ reputation along with the market value of their pieces. His goal was to secure the Artists’ status as professionals. He felt that, naturally, the pictures’ prices had to be dictated by the rules of the general art world development. The painters and draughtsmen were to actually enjoy the fruits of their work and talent during their lifetime.
To date, the drawings, paintings and objects by the Gugging Artists have been part of more than 200 exhibitions in galleries and museums worldwide. Texts by the Gugging Poets Ernst HERBECK and Edmund MACH have been presented at readings – based on their achievements both of them have been accepted into Austria’s largest writers’ society, the Grazer Authorenversammlung (Graz Authors’ Congress).
In 1990 the group “Gugging Artists” were awarded the Oskar-Kokoschka-Prize, a significant Austrian award, for their contribution to contemporary art. Apart from own publications, many external contributions, catalogues and scientific works have been published, and a plethora of documentary films, points of contact and intersections with other culturally active people have been made within the past 40 years.
Like Navratil before him, Feilacher has invested an enormous amount of time in order to promote the project and secure its consistency. The House had not considered itself part of a psychiatric institution for quite some time; the separation from the hospital’s administration was completed in 2000. The House of Artists was structured as a care home in its own right, the responsible body being the association Freunde des Hauses der Künstler in Gugging (Friends of the Gugging House of Artists).