Jaime Fernandes Simões and the art brut narrative constructions in Portugal

Abstract

This article describes the history of Jaime Fernandes from the imaginary formed around the notion of art brut, which conformed to him specific qualities as a mad subject and an artist. In this sense, the article analyses the discourses produced by art criticism in Portugal, especially between the 1970s and 1980s, according to psychiatric theories that underlie notions and qualifications for the expressions of the asylum subjects. The case of Jaime Fernandes is peculiar in the sense it gives rise to these discussions in Portugal, since he was considered the first great artist discovered under art brut in the country. Above all, It is proposed to know the subject Jaime Fernandes from the intersection of these discourses and conceptual propositions, collaborating in a broader perspective to the discussion of notions as art brut and outsider art.