Art and Mental Health

Case study

William Utermohlen

Marilú Anadón
2021
Art and Mental Health

At times, the more complex and dark parts of the psyche inspire artists to depict human
experiences with sensitivity and innovation.

Emotional Distress and illness can be expressed through art. There is an evident connection
between an artist's work and their mental state. However, an artist's work output is not solely the
product of a troubled mind. An artist's initial ability, talent, creativity is used to create an artwork
suggestive of internal deep personal experiences.

Relevant examples of famous artists who portray mental suffering, loss, loneliness and fear.

Edvard Munch (1863 – 1944)

“From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them, and that is eternity.”

‘Anxiety’. 1894. Oil canvas.

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‘The Scream’. 1895. Lithograph.

‘The Sick Child’. 1907. Oil canvas.

“My fear of life is necessary to me, as is my illness. They are indistinguishable from me, and
their destruction would destroy my art.”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853 – 1890)

"I put my heart and my soul into my work, and lost my mind in the process"

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‘The Starry Night’. 1889. Oil canvas. Impasto.

“I don't know anything with certainty, but seeing the stars makes me dream.”

‘Corridor in the Asylum’.1889. Oil Canvas.

“...and then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?”

Frida Kahlo (1907 – 1954)

"I don't paint dreams or nightmares, I paint my own reality.”

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‘Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair’. 1940. Oil Canvas.

“I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.”

‘Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird’. 1940. Oil canvas.

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‘Without Hope’. 1945. Oil on panel.

“I paint flowers so they will not die.”

‘Girl with Death Mask (She Plays Alone)'. 1938. Oil painting.

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Case study

William Utermohlen

U.K based American artist famously recognized for his 5 year final series of self-portraits over
the stages of alzheimers.

(Born Philadelphia, 5 December 1933 – Died London, 21 March 2007)

William Utermohlen was born in south Philadelphia in 1933. He studied art at the Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts from 1951 to 1957 and at the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford (1957 - 58).
In 1962 he settled in London, where he met and married the art historian Patricia Redmond. In
1967 he received his first important London show at the Marlborough gallery. In the 1980s he
painted two major murals for two great North-London institutions, the Liberal Jewish Synagogue
at Saint John’s Wood and the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead. Depictions of his life and
friends in London can be seen throughout his body of work.

In 1995, at the age of 61, the artist was diagnosed with Alzheimers, a disease that challenges the
mind and senses. Alzaimers has effects on the brain’s visualization capabilities, an aspect so
crucial for a painter. This disease causes memory loss, dementia and personality changes.

During this last period of his life, Utermohlen continued to produce meaningful images of
himself and his surroundings. If one was not aware of the artist’s declining memory, one might
perceive him as moving into a new body of work of increasing abstraction.

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Over the last stages of alzheimers, Utermohlen created a series of self-portraits. These final
paintings portrayed a man’s efforts of preserving his identity while battling over the gradual
decay of his mind.

Body of Work Analysis

Utermohlen’s art can be arranged in six clear thematic cycles.

The ‘Mythological’ paintings. 1962 - 63

The ‘Cantos’. 1965 - 1966
The ‘Mummers’. 1969 - 1970
The ‘War’. 1972
The ‘Nudes’. 1973 - 74
‘Conversation Pieces’. 1989 - 1991

The artist's final work can be divided into three final stages.

‘Portraits’. 1997
‘Masks’. 1996
‘Self Portraits’. 1995 – 2001

Conversation Pieces

‘Conversation Pieces’ was described as the great decorative interiors with figures. These works,
which can be seen as a celebration of William's life, describe the warmth and happiness of his
apartment and the joy in the companionship of his wife, friends and immediate environment.

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Conversation – 1991 Oil on canvas – 86 x 122 cm

The artwork in this cycle is characterized by the use of bright, vibrant, strong colors. Utermohlen
uses a basic color scheme of primary and complementary colors throughout the pieces. Lots of
red, green, blue, orange, yellow, purple oil paintings. The color red dominates in most of the
pieces. Most of the art made in this period is done over relatively big canvases. Over the pieces,
the artist concentrates on strong and simple sensorial impressions; the sound of voices, the taste
of coffee, wine, and cigarettes, the feelings of warmth and cold. The objects in the pieces
communicate action and story of relationships and conversations, hence the title ‘Conversation
Pieces’.

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Bed – 1991 – Oil on Canvas – 85.5 x 152 cm

However, signs of a hidden disease are apparent in the shifting perceptions of space, objects, and
people. The artwork is surreal, perspectives are distorted. The pieces act as a window into mental
and psychological processes of which the artist might not have been conscious about. In this
period, his artworks can be seen as a persistence of memory. Incorporating meaningful people
and objects which he is attached to, give a sense of nostalgia to the pieces, as if the artist is trying
to hold on tight to what he relishes on before they become lost forever.

Snow – 1991 – Oil on Canvas – 193 x 241 cm

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Blue Skies

Blue Skies, his last large painting. This piece was made the same year Utermohlen was
diagnosed with alzaimers. It represents the artist's reaction to his diagnosis.

Blue Skies – 1995 – Oil on canvas – 152 x 122 cm

A lonely, devastated figure holding strongly on to a table, in the blue light of an empty studio.
Less color and texture is used. This piece evokes feelings of isolation and abandonment.

After the diagnosis, the artist was admitted to a hospital for neurology and neurosurgery at
Queen Square, London. While at the hospital, Utermohlen was encouraged to continue creating
art. However, After Blue Skies, Utermohlen’s style changed dramatically, leading to his last
body of work series; ‘Self Portraits’ (1995 - 2001)

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Self Portraits

Uttermohlen enjoyed creating portraits. Mostly of his wife, Patricia.

‘Portraits’. 1997 . Before diagnosis.

After his diagnosis and hospitalization, Utermholen went on to create a 5 year final series of self-
portraits over the last stages of alzaimers. The drawings constitute a powerful documentation of

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his painful descent into dementia. As the disease progresses, the art becomes visibly more
abstract, blurrier and vague.

Red (1996) – Mixed Media on Paper – 46.5 x 33 cm

His widow said; ‘In these pictures we see with heart-breaking intensity William’s efforts to
explain his altered self, his fears, and his sadness.’ ‘To me it became obvious that he painted the
self-portraits to make himself understand what had happened to him.’

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 In the Studio (1996) – Mixed media on paper – 45.5 x 32.5 cm

Green (1997) – Oil on canvas – 35.5 x 35.5 cm

Self Portrait (with Easel) (1998) – Oil on canvas

Utermohlen’s portraits show a deterioration of facial characteristics. Over time his self-portraits
become less complicated and cohesive. Details lose importance and there is no sense of space

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and depth. The pieces show a loss of orientation and specificity, a growing confusion and
distortion. People and familiar items are no longer recognized. In his work, a progressive loss of
identity, ego, sense of self can be perceived. The artist fights to preserve his artistic
consciousness.

Erased Self Portrait – 1999 – Oil on canvas – 45.5 x 35.5 cm

Utermohlen gradually integrates less color into his work, which might mean less intention or
feeling. Perhaps less sense of awareness of being in the world, which is typical of people with
progressive diseases. His work illustrates a growing health crisis.

Unnamed work. Paper and pencil.

The artist managed to adapt his style and technique to the growing limitations of his perception
and motor skills. Colour, brushwork, and line retain their artistic and expressive nature.

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Utermohlen mourns the self that he lost. His last work is a simple grey head, a skull with no skin
nor features. An image of a subject that is broken. Frightening but inspiring, it represents the
artist’s will to subsist in the face of pain.

Head I (2000) – Pencil on paper – 40.5 x 33 cm

Reflection

Creativity and mental illnesses are strongly connected. There is a link between art, self
expression, and mental health. The state of mind shapes individuals and their work. Art can
uniquely reflect the struggle and psychological condition of a mind.

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William Utrmholen’s work offers a broad window into the experience of the progression of
alzheimers. It exposes a mind trying to understand itself despite deterioration. Art is as a symbol
of the self, through this medium empathy and understanding for others experiences and sorrows
is created thus reducing the feeling of loneliness in pain.

Sources

- Art and health. Artists.

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inspired-mental-health-problems-pictures

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/162004.Edvard_Munch

https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/artists-who-suffered-mental-illness/

https://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/gallery/2018/jan/17/eight-artworks-
inspired-mental-health-problems-pictures

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 https://www.thecollector.com/how-mental-illness-shaped-works-by-artists/

- William Utermholen

http://boicosfinearts.com/exhibitions/william-utermohlen-a-persistence.html

https://ukdhm.org/william-utermohlen-1933-2007-dementia/

https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/dementia-arts/0/steps/44896

https://historia-arte.com/artistas/william-utermohlen

https://issues.org/william-utermohlen/

https://onartandaesthetics.com/2018/09/06/colourful-conversation-pieces-to-dramatic-
self-portraits-under-alzheimers-the-life-of-william-utermohlen/

https://www.stirworld.com/see-features-william-utermohlen-s-critical-works-reveal-
extent-of-alzheimer-s-disease

https://www.luxuo.com/culture/art/william-utermohlens-self-portraits.html

https://mymodernmet.com/william-utermohlen-alzheimers-self-portraits/

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https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/jul/19/dementia-and-the-arts-fiction-films-
drama-poetry-painting

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