The Devastation Of Alzheimer’s Portrayed In 5 Years Of Self-Portraits By Suffering Artist
In 1995, at the age of 61, UK-based painter William Utermohlen was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Encouraged by his nurse, who loved his work, Utermohlen never gave up his life-long passion and painted as much as he could until his memory failed him completely. The artist’s artist’s self-portraits grimly illustrates the merciless progression of the disease, which he had been exploring through visual self-reflection with paint and brushes during the last 5 years of his artistically active life.
“ Even the time he was beginning to be ill, he was always always drawing, every minute of the day, ” the artist’s wife, Patricia Utermohlen, recalls . “ I say he died in 2000, because he died when he couldn’t draw any more. He actually died in 2007, but it wasn’t him by then. ”
More info: williamutermohlen.org | newstatesman.com | nytimes.com (h/t: reddit )
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