About 20 or 25 years ago I was visiting a friend who showed me a book about this artist. I don’t think he was an artist by profession…I’m not sure what his profession was, or even if he had one. Another memory just occurred to me that he may have been unable to take care of himself, due to severe autism or something.
I’m guessing this was mid/late 19th to early 20th century. He painted/drew what I would call village scapes: A looking-down-at-an-angle view of like a medieval village with a gated wall around it. (Unfortunately, my art vocabulary isn’t very strong, so I’ll stick with general impressions it gave me). I only saw a handful of the artworks, but the ones I do remember, while not strictly monochromatic, were dominated by one color (I’m remembering red/purple from the examples I saw) and maybe shadings of that color (the background outside the walls of the village was plain white). I don’t remember any people in the villages, but I do remember it being somewhat geometric, like it may have been done on a drafting table (with quite a bit of detail). Other words that come to mind: Fairy Tale-ish and slightly Dr. Seussish, but not overly so; I remember more curves than corners.
What I think will be much more helpful are some details I remember about the artist himself. One of the pieces was inspired by the first time he got to see a vagina. I’m not as confident of this part, but I seem to remember that particular village had some kind of motto, maybe posted above the village wall gate or on some monument in the village: Something like “So that every man may see what he deserves to see” or something like that. I remember it in English, but I may simply be remembering a translation; I think most likely it was English or Latin, but it could’ve been some other language (though I’m quite certain it was European).
Also, there was a story that some time the artist learned that some men have a vestigial vagina somewhere on their penis/scrotum. He looked for this on himself and was oddly gratified when he managed to find it.
Those are the main things I remember, and keep in mind this memory is over 20 years old. I’m absolutely confident, however, of the two vagina stories about the artist, but some of the details have quite possibly been distorted by time.
Any help anyone can offer would be appreciated. Thanks!
Thanks very much for the suggestion, but that’s not who I’m looking for. The style of the artist I’m thinking of is very different, and I couldn’t find any reference to the vagina connections with Dadd, both of which I’m certain of.
The drawings I remember had few if any people/fairies/animals in them (I don’t remember there being any at all, but I may have overlooked some).
To try and describe the style a little better:
This example is just to illustrate the angle of the view. What I’m thinking of is quite different, though: Nowhere near as many different colors. The buildings were more crammed together. I notice in this example you can see some small people walking in the paths; if there were people in the drawings I’m thinking of, that’s most likely how they were presented. (Another example on this page–the top right thumbnail below, labeled Medieval Village Cell Anology, would also illustrate the angle of view but also has the same problems mentioned in this paragraph). https://tinyurl.com/znvdta5r
Finally, this example probably comes closest to the style of architecture I remember. It’s not perfect, but it’s decent at illustrating what I mean by saying it had more curves than corners. https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/439523244882594769/
I’m looking at the windows and arches, specifically–again, more curves than corners. Now, it wasn’t over-the-top-Seuss like this example: The arches and windows I’m thinking of were more or less perfectly symmetric and not leaning this way and that.
I hope that helps some in trying to describe the style. If anyone has any more questions about the style, just ask and I’ll answer as best as I can.
Lots of people painted vedute; Wikipedia mentions van Lint, Bril, Vermeer, Cruyl, Carlevarijs, Canaletto, Bellotto, Pannini, van Wittel, van Bloemen, Dughet, Piranesi, Brandeis, Rico, Fortuny, Reyna Manescau, Senet, and del Campo. So, maybe one of them?? Nothing comes to mind about making the city look like a vagina, though.
The_Other_Waldo_Pepper: Funnily enough, I asked the friend who introduced me to this artist before posting the question here. He doesn’t remember, but thinks it’s starting to come back to him. His first thought was also Forrest Bess, but the style is all wrong; what I’m remembering is not abstract at all. Also, Bess kind of gave himself a vagina; the guy I’m thinking of merely found a vestigial vagina on himself.
DPRK: I did a quick Google image search of each of those artists and none of them have a style similar to what I remember. What I’m remembering leans more toward an architectural style (i.e., no embellishments like textured water in them–pretty much no more than just the design of the village, albeit considerably detailed design) than those and is not nearly so colorful as most of them. Also, I think a lot of those artists are much better known than the guy I’m looking for (but I’m confident he’s at least well enough known to be found on the Internet if you know what to search for). And I’m fairly certain he doesn’t go back as far as the 18th century or before.
Thanks very much to both of you for your suggestions, however!
ETA: I forgot to also mention: I don’t recall the city/village actually LOOKING like a vagina, only that it was inspired by the first time he actually saw one. There may have been parts that were suggestive of a vagina, like the doorway behind the Who in the Dr Seuss drawing above ( http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KHKE-57rhYM/US90xOfYSkI/AAAAAAAAAMI/wBcpMzRX6Xs/s1600/Sollew29.png ), I simply don’t recall.
Could it be Adolf Wolfli? In particular, one painting seems fairly close to what you’ve described.
If not Adolf Wolfli, perhaps looking into The Discovery of the Art of the Insane by John J. MacGregor will provide some familiar samples or names. Here’s a link to a shopping site that also references other books dedicated to “outsider” art.
Good luck with your search. Please let us know what you find.
I’m fairly certain it’s not Wolfli; the style is not really similar to what I remember and is too multi-colored (though I must mention that, in addition to the memory being over 20 years old, I only remember one particular work by this artist with any kind of clarity (the one inspired by seeing a vagina, I believe. I’m also not really sure how representative that work may or may not be of the artist). Looking at a few Wolfli works, this one seems closest to what I remember: Irren Anstalt Band Hain, 1910 - Adolf Wölfli - WikiArt.org
However, following leads from that artist, I wound up on two artists of interest:
Yakov Chernikhov: Based on what I’ve just recently read about this artist, I’m virtually certain that it can’t possibly be him–he seems relatively “normal”. However, some of his work strongly reminds me of what I remember, particularly this one:
Willem van Genk: Now this guy looks very interesting; I can’t rule him out. The short bio of him on Wikipedia is consistent with what I remember, though there’s no mention of the two vagina stories I remember. And his work is very similar to what I remember. Here are two examples to illustrate:
and
So thank you very much for pointing me in that direction! I think my friend is going to look for some books about mentally ill artists (one of those might be the original book where he showed me this artist). If I learn anything more, I’ll post here. Meanwhile, if anyone has any more suggestions, please contribute them!
I wanted to pop back in here to mention that I’ve found another artist that I can’t rule out: Charles Meryon. He had mental illness and the examples I’ve found on Google image search are at least consistent with what I remember, but I’ve not found any reference to the vagina stories I mentioned. If anyone familiar with Meryon and has any reference to such stories, please let me know!
