Elka Spoerri (1924–2002)
Author of The Art of Adolf Wolfli: St. Adolf-Giant-Creation
About the Author
Works by Elka Spoerri
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1924
- Date of death
- 2002-05-17
- Gender
- female
- Birthplace
- Sofia, Bulgaria
- Place of death
- Bern, Switzerland
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Statistics
- Works
- 9
- Members
- 86
- Popularity
- #213,013
- Rating
- 4.7
- Reviews
- 3
- ISBNs
- 10
- Languages
- 3
Wölfli's youth was one of deprivation. His alcoholic father ran off when Wölfli was five, and his mother died soon after. Despite these travails, he managed to complete his education, acquiring the sophisticated literacy so evident in his later work. However, beginning at age twenty-six, his repeated attempts to molest young girls landed him first in jail and, in 1894, in the asylum. Though violent at first, by 1899 he calmed down--and began to draw.
Working primarily in pencil on newsprint, Wölfli created a dense, stunningly detailed medley of wildly imaginative prose texts interwoven with poems, musical compositions, color illustrations, and collages. His five-part magnum opus, "St. Adolf-Giant-Creation," comprises 45 large volumes and 16 notebooks--25,000 pages in all--containing 1,620 drawings and 1,640 collages.… (more)