Place of the artist : political outsider art from twentieth century Kansas.

Abstract

This thesis explores the idea of place or region and politics in art, specifically outsider art in Kansas. This thesis studies and compares three outsider artists from Kansas, S. P. Dinsmoor, M. T. Liggett, and Elizabeth Layton, to indicate how place has helped form their aesthetics and the political ideas within their art. An examination of the social and political history of Kansas demonstrates that each artist has a common ideology, uses many of the same mythological representations, and has much the same attitude towards art and society at large. The study suggests that place has a large impact on the art and artists discussed.