British Outsider Artists You Should Know

Is there a British outsider art tradition?

Britain was slower than France, Switzerland or the United States to recognise outsider art. There was no British Dubuffet collecting in the 1940s, and the UK still has only one large public collection, the Musgrave Kinley collection at the Whitworth. But British artists have been central to the story from the start, and Roger Cardinal, who coined the term, was British. Here are the names to know.

The pioneers

Madge Gill (1882–1961)

An East London medium who made thousands of ink drawings guided, she said, by the spirit Myrninerest. The classic British outsider.

Scottie Wilson (died 1972)

A Glasgow-born junk dealer who began drawing in his forties in Toronto and was collected by Picasso and Dubuffet.

Georgiana Houghton (1814–1884)

A Victorian Spiritualist whose abstract "spirit drawings" were shown in Bond Street in 1871 and rediscovered at the Courtauld in 2016. Her training puts her on the edge of the category. See mediumistic art.

The Musgrave generation

After the Hayward Gallery's 1979 Outsiders exhibition, Victor Musgrave and Monika Kinley sought out British self-taught artists.

Albert Louden (born 1943)

A Londoner who made paintings and pastels of crowded, dramatic human scenes, in his bedroom or his mother's back garden in Leyton. Musgrave identified him as an outsider artist and proposed his solo exhibition, Streets and Rooms, at the Serpentine Gallery in 1985. His work is in the Collection de l'Art Brut in Lausanne.

Nick Blinko (born 1961)

Singer, lyricist and guitarist of the anarcho-punk band Rudimentary Peni, and an artist of densely detailed pen-and-ink drawings. He has been open about his diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder. His art first came to public attention in a 1994 exhibition at the National Schizophrenia Fellowship, and Pallant House Gallery gave him a solo show in 2011. His work is in the Collection de l'Art Brut.

The builders

Britain's best outsider art may be its environments: homes and gardens transformed by one person.

Ron Gittins (1939–2019)

Spent over 30 years turning his rented ground-floor flat in Birkenhead into a world of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, with huge cement fireplaces, a Minotaur's head and a Roman altar in the kitchen. Ron's Place was listed Grade II in March 2024. See Ron's Place.

John Fairnington (1883–1981)

A retired joiner who filled his garden at Branxton, Northumberland, with about 300 concrete animals and figures in the 1960s, the Cement Menagerie.

Gerry Dalton (1935–2019)

Filled his Paddington council flat and garden with concrete figures from history and model buildings, known as Gerry's Pompeii.

Rory McCormack

A fisherman who built flint figures copied from ancient sculptures on his plot on Brighton beach, the Brighton Flint Grotto.

Read more in visionary environments in Britain.

Outsider or naïve? The case of Alfred Wallis

Alfred Wallis (1855–1942) was a Cornish fisherman and marine stores dealer who began painting ships and harbours at about 70, after his wife died, using household and ship paint on scraps of cardboard. In August 1928 the modern painters Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood saw his work in St Ives and championed it. He is usually described as a naïve painter rather than an outsider, but his story shows how close the categories can be. See art brut vs outsider art.

Artists working today

Many British self-taught artists today work through supported studios and charities rather than alone. Outside In, Project Ability, ActionSpace, Venture Arts, Submit to Love and the Bethlem Gallery all support artists whose work is shown and sold across the UK. Rather than single out living artists here, we recommend exploring those organisations' own galleries. See supported studios.

Where to go next

Plan a visit with where to see outsider art in the UK, or read about Roger Cardinal and the 1979 Outsiders show.