Gilbert Stuart and the Impact of Manic Depression


Book Description

Early American painter Gilbert Stuart has long been mistakenly represented as a hard-drinking rogue, habitual liar, and inexplicable financial failure. To explain his stylistic unevenness as an artist, he is assumed to have had an inferior assistant, but the documentary evidence for an assistant who painted on his portraits is non-existent-in fact, there is evidence to the contrary. This ground-breaking study demonstrates that Stuart suffered from a hereditary form of manic depression, leading him to create pictures that contain peculiar lapses characteristic of a manic-depressive, or bipolar, artist. Using documentary and empirical evidence-from diaries and letters to x-radiographs of paintings-this book fills important gaps in our knowledge of Stuart, and connects the strange visual effects in some of Stuart's paintings with cognitive deficits attendant with the disorder. In addition to Stuart, other bipolar artists, including George Romney, Raphaelle Peale, Gilbert Stuart Newton, and William Rimmer, are discussed in relation to these deficits, revealing patterns which carry broader implications for all manic-depressive artists. This volume is a significant contribution not only to studies of Stuart and the four other painters but also to our understanding of the mind of a manic-depressive artist. It bridges the broad disciplines of art history and psychopathology.




William Rimmer


Book Description

William Rimmer (1816–1879) is arguably the first modernist American sculptor, although his inventive originality has not been fully acknowledged. Rimmer cultivated an art of ideas and personal expression whilst supporting himself as a physician and, later, as a teacher of art anatomy at the Cooper Union School of Design for Women in New York. Unlike his contemporaries, he advocated the creation of sculpture drawn entirely from the artist’s imagination, as opposed to antique archetypes or live models. In this way, he sought to reframe excellence in American art as something that must be found within, rather than derived from Europe. In this new monograph, the meaning of Rimmer’s works is for the first time considered from a combination of perspectives, such as close visual analysis (including X-ray and infrared), historical documentation, and social context. These are enriched with discussion of the artist’s own bipolar disorder, deeply-held spiritualism, and views on gender equality—considering women just as talented as men, he used naked male models in all-female classes long before his contemporaries, and produced an allegorical sculpture of fighting lions that criticized the tyranny of men over women. This book will be of great interest to academics, students, art museums, collectors, dealers, art historians, and members of the public with an affinity for Rimmer’s work. It will also appeal to those with a broader interest in American culture.




America, History and Life


Book Description

Provides historical coverage of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Includes information abstracted from over 2,000 journals published worldwide.




Electroboy


Book Description

The author describes his longtime battle with ills of manic depression, his desperate search for the ultimate high, the art-forgery scandal that confined him to jail and to house arrest, and his decision to opt for the controversial treatment of electroconvulsive therapy to preserve his sanity. Reprint. 30,000 first printing.




The Materiality of Color


Book Description

The purpose of this essay collection is to recover color's complex and sometimes morally troubling past. By emphasising color's materiality, and how it was produced, exchanged and used, contributors draw attention to the disjuncture between the beauty of color and the blood, sweat, and tears that went into its production, circulation and application as well as to the complicated and varied social meanings attached to color within specific historical and social contexts.







Essentials of Clinical Psychiatry


Book Description

This hefty synopsis of the most important material included in the third edition of The American Psychiatric Press Textbook of Psychiatry is intended for medical students in their third-year clerkship or fourth-year psychiatry electives, and for junior psychiatry residents who need an overview of clinical psychiatry. Section I covers theoretical foundations and assessment, and Section II, the bulk of the book, details psychiatric disorders. Section III looks at psychiatric treatments. Includes a glossary. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




The Self in Understanding and Treating Psychological Disorders


Book Description

This must-have reference is a unique exploration of how the individual notion of 'self' and related constructs, such as early schemas and attachment styles, impact on psychopathology, psychotherapy processes and treatment outcomes for psychological disorders across DSM-5, such as depression, bipolar and schizophrenia spectrum disorders, anxiety and trauma, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, autism, personality disorders, gender identity disorder, dementia and somatic problems such as chronic fatigue syndrome. It discusses the role of the concept of self in a wide range of existing theoretical and treatment frameworks, and relates these to real-life clinical issues and treatment implications. Emphasizing the importance of integrating an awareness of self constructs into evidence-based conceptual models, it offers alternative practical intervention techniques, suggesting a new way forward in advancing our understanding of psychological disorders and their treatment.