Rorshah test. German Rorshah, his test and the power of vision

In 1917, when Herman Rorshah worked in a hospital in a quiet Swiss town, he invented an experiment to test the human mind: a set of cards with ink spots of a carefully thought -out form. For many years he fought with the theories of Freud and Jung, simultaneously absorbing the aesthetic trends of the era - futurism and Dadaism. Being endowed with the gift of the artist, Rorshah came to the conclusion that our essence is to a lesser extent what we say, as Freud thought, and more - what we see. Alas, Rorschach died suddenly, and soon after his death his test came to America, where a new life was developed. He was in the service of the military after Pearl Harbor, with his help they tried to look into the souls of the defendants in the Nuremberg process and during the war in Vietnam. He entered the instrumentation of advertisers, Hollywood producers and journalists, served as an inspiration for Andy Warhol and even Jay Z. The test also passed military personnel, applicants, and parents, people with mental illness and those who wanted to understand themselves. And it is still used today. This is the first and only biography of Hermann Rorshah and the cultural biography of his dough. The author, Damion Sirls, is based on previously not published letters and diaries, as well as so unknown interviews with family members, friends and colleagues of the Swiss psychiatrist. He managed to tell the story of the creation of the test, the contradictory history of its revival - about the stamina of the psychiatric and cultural concept. This original and elegant structure of the book sheds light on the most outstanding example of the synthesis of science and art of the 20th century.