I found the following definitions at www.artlex.com,
a great resource site for anyone interested in the arts. Another great site is
the Museum
of American Folk Art in the Big Apple, they're filled with fine examples of
American craft, folk art, and "outsider" art., visionary and
brut.
Folk art -
Art made by people who have had little or no formal schooling in art.
Folk artists usually made works of art with traditional techniques and content,
in styles handed down through many generations, and often of a particular
region. Paintings, sculptures, ceramics, metal work, costume, tools, and other
everyday objects all may be folk art.
Naive art or naïve art -The
style of naive painting is characterized by a careful, simplifying approach,
non-scientific perspective, bright colors, and often, an enchantingly
literal depiction of imaginary scenes. Although not following any particular
movement or aesthetic, naive painters have been a continuing international
phenomenon and influence since the beginning of the twentieth century. The term
usually refers to works produced by artists (also called naifs or naïfs) who
had no formal training. Their apparent affinity with non-Western art and their
bold expressive qualities made them appealing to the early modernists searching
for new forms of expression. The art of naive artists is sometimes referred to
as primitive art, but is now most commonly called outsider and folk art.
Outsider art or outsider
art and Outsiders
or outsiders- Strictly
interpreted, outsider art refers to works by those outside of mainstream
society. In the United States, outsider art broadly includes folk art and ethnic
art as well as by prisoners, the mentally ill and others neither trained in art
nor making their works to sell them. In Europe, outsider art is more narrowly
interpreted as art by the mentally disturbed. The term naive was once applied to
this work, but is no longer considered current. Because fewer and fewer people
are sufficiently isolated to be truly outsiders, most are either mentally ill or
working far from urban art scenes.
Art brut- French for
"raw art," Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985) devised this name in 1945 for the
art of children and outsiders (naive artists and the mentally ill); actually,
anyone not producing art for profit or recognition. Because they did not adhere
to the cultural norms or fashion effecting most artists, Dubuffet felt there was
greater honesty and power inherent in the work of such people. His collection of
art brut moved Dubuffet to cultivate such raw artistic elements in his own work,
sometimes making pictures with pastes including mud, asphalt, or broken glass.