This literature review (1999) looks at European research with (psychedelics) drugs on creativity between 1940-1970. A disinhibiting effect of psychedelics (allowing creative breakthroughs) is proposed.
Abstract of Breakdown or Breakthrough?
“Language barriers have largely prevented American scholars from learning about European studies concerning drugs and creativity. An art historian reports on several Swiss, English, French and German studies conducted from the 1940s to the 1970s, offering new data in a research area that has been banned since drugs like mescalin, psilocybin, and LSD became illegal. Different views of the operations of these drugs, revealed by such terms as “hallucinogens,” “psychotogenics,” and “psychedelics,” appear to have colored researchers’ aims to a large extent. The notions of drugs “dictating” or “liberating” the intoxicated artist are criticized by discussing the importance of set and setting. It is proposed that intentional drug use among artists expecting artistic breakthroughs while intoxicated, can be seen as a form of “gaucherie” or disinhibiting technique.”
Author: Jos Ten Berge
Notes on Breakdown or Breakthrough?
Written from an art historian’s perspective.
Looks at reports by artists and research that was not published in English.
The author frames the use of (psychedelic) drugs as follows:
“Within the context of such disinhibiting practices, the use of drugs, I propose, belongs to a category for which the term gaucherie can be adopted. In art history, this term refers in particular to the practice of (right-handed) artists who try to work deliberately with their left hand. In more general terms, gaucherie means the intentional raising of technical barriers that force the artist to improvise and, hopefully, make him discover new and valuable methods of working.”
Summary of Breakdown or Breakthrough? A History of European Research into Drugs and Creativity
Language barriers have prevented American scholars from learning about European studies concerning drugs and creativity. The study offers new data on a research area that has been banned since drugs like mescalin, psilocybin, and LSD became illegal.
When studying creativity, scientific researchers have often turned to artists using drugs. However, the art world is not saturated with drug enthusiasts, and most information about artists using drugs comes from experimental research that aimed for straight answers to the second question only.
Since new drug laws in the late 1960s have made further research impossible, it is important to bring together all the information that researchers have been able to gather in the past. However, American and European scientists have remained ignorant of each other’s work.
Find this paper
Breakdown or Breakthrough? A History of European Research into Drugs and Creativity
https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2162-6057.1999.tb01406.x
Paywall | Google Scholar | Backup | 🕊
Cite this paper (APA)
Berge, J. T. (1999). Breakdown or breakthrough? A history of European research into drugs and creativity. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 33(4), 257-276.