(Wünschmichelbach 1866–1910 Wiesloch asylum)

Prinzhorn’s pseudonym: Johann Knüpfer

 

The Odenwald baker and mechanic Johann Knopf was, after an unhappy marriage, repeatedly imprisoned from 1885 on for begging and criminal assault. In 1903, he stabbed himself in his abdomen with a pocket knife, out of despair at the “serious harassment” and “torture”, and was taken to a hospital in Mannheim. He was transferred a few days later to the psychiatric clinic in Heidelberg, as he was speaking of religions visions and personal persecution. He was “the Resurrection”, no one had ever suffered as much as he, not even Jesus Christ. He felt especially drawn to animals – he believed he could understand the “voices” of the birds. At the end of that year, he was transferred to Emmendingen, and in 1905 to Wiesloch, where he died in 1910.

From 1906 on, Knopf drew and wrote “with holy fervor” on every piece of paper he could get his hands on. He rejected praise for his works, claiming that what mattered was only whether everything was “correct” or not.