An artist vacant

After seeing “Self Portrait” by Gwen John at Ace of Spades, I did a little reading on the artist. I had not heard of her. The portrait shows a youngish woman, pale, whose eyes seem to wonder why she is sitting for the portrait, and she hopes the artist soon finishes.

The bit of reading and the portrait also reinforce my belief that picture- painting artists all are at least a little insane. Apparently, Ms. John did not care much for the world. Her writings indicate she would not morn when she passed from it. The article states that when Ms. John died in September 1939 at age 63, “she appears to have starved to death.”

In Texas I knew an artist who at one time had been very good and even relatively economically successful. His early works indicate a degree of crazy more than is normal. Then he went away for a time. When he returned, now about as sane as everyone else, his paintings lacked everything that had made him good. His colors were nowhere near as brilliant; his characters had none of the outlandishness of his earlier people; his scenes of Texas were wooden.

I did not know him when he was crazy, but I did see two dozen of his paintings in a collected show in Paris, Texas. I would like to have known the artist when he was crazy and good, as well as when he was less crazy, but only mediocre.

© 2022 Robert Merriman