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Johann Hauser lived in a displaced persons' camp with his mother until he was seventeen when he was transferred to a mental institution and eventually diagnosed as a manic-depressive. In the late 1940s, he was transferred to the Gugging psychiatric hospital at Klosterneuburg, Austria. Hauser began to draw in 1959 when he was asked to produce a picture of a sun. He mostly worked with coloured pencil crayons to produce images that were bold and saturated in colour. He frequently depicted images of women which he would sometimes copy from illustrated magazines. Hauser's large signature, the only words he could write, feature prominently in each work. His distinct moods informed his imagery. During a manic phase he would produce bold colourful pictures which contrast with the geometrical, cold images produced during a depressive episode. Hauser was one of few patients in a psychiatric hospital to attain international recognition in his own lifetime.

Johann Hauser undated Courtesy of Tate Archive Photo credit: Monika Kinley view larger image

Woman with three owls and a moon 1974 Pencil and oil pasted on paper Musgrave Kinley Outsider Collection view larger image

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