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They Taught Themselves: American Primitive Painters of the 20th Century Sidney Janis 1942, reprint New York: Sanford L. Smith & Associates, 1999. Soft cover, 236 pages, 84 illustrations. Reviewed by Scott H. Suter Originally published in 1942 by the avid collector Sidney Janis, this interesting book offers biographical information on thirty self-taught artists of the first half of the twentieth century as well as commentary on several works by each artist. Out-of-print for many years, this recent reprint makes the work accessible to a new generation of interested collectors and scholars. Janis organized a number of exhibitions in the 1930s and 1940s and this book essentially represents a catalog of the self-taught artists that he "discovered" and exhibited during this time period. In many cases the book offers an opportunity for reading what the artists themselves thought and felt about their own work. Often brief biographies in the artists' own words accompany the text, which is supplemented with Janis' remarks about his own experiences with the painters. Many of these artists were Janis' contemporaries and were continuing to produce works as he wrote. The text also benefits greatly from the author's personal correspondence with the artists, along with his recounting of visits to their homes and studios. Janis clearly had a great deal of respect for the artists about whom he wrote. Of course, plenty has been written about self-taught artists since 1942, much of it dealing with questions of definition and classification of artists and their works. Great debates have emerged over the use of terms such as "naive" and "primitive," and Janis himself notes that many of these terms are pejorative by nature. Nevertheless, he did see fit to subtitle his book with one of those phrases. Folk life scholars have long bristled at the inclusion of such artists under the rubric of folk art, noting that this art seldom has any connection with community-based traditions. A more recent adoption is the term "outsider art," referring to the place of these artists in society; however, this phrase is also fraught with problems. Who, for instance, would say that Anna Mary Robertson Moses--known to Janis as "Mother Moses," and to our contemporary world as "Grandma Moses"--existed outside of the society of her rural New York home? Still, as Janis aptly notes: "When these individuals paint, they rarely learn from a developed painting culture because it is far removed from their perception, and being removed, cannot touch them. Each creates in his own world" (7). Coming before much of the debate, They Taught Themselves furnishes one collector's impressions with little of the definition wrangling that has occurred since its publication. They Taught Themselves should be a required text on any self-taught art collector's shelf, and it will provide those with interests in American art with a useful foundation for contemporary discussions of artists' creative impulses. Janis' attempts at psychological interpretations are sometimes a bit misguided; however, his intentions and the direction in which he headed were not off base. Sanford L. Smith & Associates are to be commended for once again making this book available in an affordable text.