Witch's Head - August Natterer

A surreal, cartographic portrait by August Natterer, where a human profile is constructed from the geography of a town.

August Natterer, a German artist who spent much of his adult life in psychiatric institutions, produced a body of work characterised by hallucinatory imagery and precise, cartographic detail. This piece, known as Witch's Head, demonstrates his unique method of externalising internal visions. The composition functions on two levels: it is simultaneously a portrait of a grotesque, profile-facing figure and a topographical map of a town or rural area.

The artist employs a flattened perspective where roads, buildings, and vegetation form the contours of the face. The eye is rendered as a circular, celestial body, while the nose and chin are defined by the boundaries of fields and structures. Natterer often described his visions as appearing before his eyes in a flash, which he then attempted to record with obsessive accuracy. His work is frequently associated with the Art Brut movement, as it exists outside the traditional academic canon, driven by personal psychological experience rather than external stylistic trends.

The colour palette is dominated by ochre, earthy yellows, and muted greens, giving the work an aged, parchment-like quality. The lines are thin and deliberate, mapping out the geography of the face with the same care one might apply to a survey. There is a distinct lack of traditional shading, as the artist relies on the arrangement of shapes and symbols to convey form. This print captures the peculiar tension between the recognisable features of a human head and the architectural elements of a constructed environment. It offers a glimpse into the singular visual language Natterer developed during his time in institutional care, where the boundaries between the internal mind and the external world became porous.