Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists (Frontiers of Neurology and Neuroscience), Part 2

249 Pages·2007·3.93 MB·English

by  J. Bogousslavsky

Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists – Part 2
Frontiers of Neurology and
Neuroscience
Vol. 22
Series Editor
J. Bogousslavsky, Montreux
Neurological Disorders
in Famous Artists – Part 2
Volume Editors
J. Bogousslavsky, Montreux
M.G. Hennerici, Mannheim
60 figures, 23 in color, and 6 tables, 2007
Basel·Freiburg·Paris·London·New York·
Bangalore·Bangkok·Singapore·Tokyo·Sydney
Julien Bogousslavsky, MD Michael G. Hennerici, MD, PhD
Department of Neurology Department of Neurology
Valmont Clinic University of Heidelberg
Genolier Swiss Medical Universitätsklinikum Mannheim
Network Theodor Kutzer Ufer 1-3
CH–1823 Glion-sur-Montreux DE–68135 Mannheim (Germany)
(Switzerland)
(As requested by the Library of Congress, CIP data for Part 1 (vol. 19) are printed).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Neurological disorders in famous artists / volume editors, J. Bogousslavsky,
F. Boller.
p. ; cm. – (Frontiers of neurology and neuroscience ; v. 19)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 3-8055-7914-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Nervous system–Diseases. 2. Artists–Diseases
[DNLM: 1. Famous Persons–Case Reports. 2. Nervous System Diseases–Case
Reports.] I. Bogousslavsky, Julien. II. Boller, François. III. Series.
RC359.N46 2005
616.8–dc22
2005002444
Bibliographic Indices. This publication is listed in bibliographic services, including Current Contents®and
Index Medicus.
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© Copyright 2007 by S. Karger AG, P.O. Box, CH–4009 Basel (Switzerland)
www.karger.com
Printed in Switzerland on acid-free paper by Reinhardt Druck, Basel
ISSN 1660–4431
ISBN 978–3–8055–8265–0
Contents
VII Preface
1 Painting after Right-Hemisphere Stroke – Case Studies of Professional Artists
Bäzner, H.; Hennerici, M.G. (Mannheim)
14 I and Me: Self-Portraiture in Brain Damage
Blanke, O. (Lausanne/Geneva)
30 Lovis Corinth: Integrating Hemineglect and Spatial Distortions
Bäzner, H.; Hennerici, M.G. (Mannheim)
44 Visconti and Fellini: From Left Social Neorealism to
Right-Hemisphere Stroke
Dieguez, S.; Assal, G. (Lausanne); Bogousslavsky, J. (Montreux)
75 De novo Artistic Behaviour following Brain Injury
Pollak, T.A.; Mulvenna, C.M.; Lythgoe, M.F. (London)
89 Marcel Proust’s Diseases and Doctors: The Neurological Story of a Life
Bogousslavsky, J. (Montreux)
105 Heinrich Heine and Syphilis
auf der Horst, C. (Düsseldorf)
121 Baudelaire’s Aphasia: From Poetry to Cursing
Dieguez, S. (Lausanne); Bogousslavsky, J. (Montreux)
V
150 Memory and the Creation of Art: The Syndrome, as in de Kooning,
of ‘Creating in the Midst of Dementia’.
An ‘ArtScience’Study of Creation, Its ‘Brain Methods’and Results
Espinel, C.H. (Washington, D.C.)
169 Persisting Aphasia, Cerebral Dominance, and Painting in the
Famous Artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd
Colombo-Thuillard, F. (Fribourg); Assal, G. (Lausanne)
184 Mozart in the Neurological Department – Who Has the Tic?
Kammer, T. (Ulm)
193 Hans von Bülow: Creativity and Neurological Disease in a
Famous Pianist and Conductor
Wöhrle, J.C. (Koblenz/Mannheim); Haas, F. (Karlsruhe)
206 Synaesthesia, the Arts and Creativity: A Neurological Connection
Mulvenna, C.M. (London)
223 The Hallucinating Art of Heinrich Füssli
Baumann, C.; Lentzsch, F.; Regard, M.; Bassetti, C. (Zürich)
236 Author Index
237 Subject Index
Contents VI
Preface
While artistic, literary, and musical creativity are perhaps the most fasci-
nating of all human achievements, their basic brain counterparts remain poorly
defined. It is likely that the brain participates as a whole in creativity, which can
be defined as the ability to produce new and original works which stimulate
interest or appeal esthetically. Creativity is a general feature of all humans, and
everyone is indeed ‘creative’on numerous occasions during his or her life. On
the other hand, only a very limited number of individuals achieve what can be
called ‘extraordinary creativity’, and which refers in particular to an ability to
deconstruct established executive habits and tastes leading to truly novel pro-
ductions, be it in science, art or other domains. When disease, especially brain
disease, challenges the capabilities of one of these ‘extraordinarily creative’
individuals, the changes that consequently occur in their productions provide a
unique opportunity to explore the mysteries of creativity, particularly in the
artistic field.
Sometimes creativity is lost through disease and sometimes it is modified
and occasionally, though more rarely, it may be enhanced or augmented. In the
previous volume Neurological Disorders in Famous Artistsedited by Dr. François
Boller and one of the current editors, we presented a large series of famous
painters, writers, poets, musicians, and philosophers who had developed some
form of neurological dysfunction, and we focused on the influence of these
pathologies on their work. We soon realized that several other artists whose
style and output changed following a stroke, meningitis, or other cerebral dis-
order demanded a similar approach, since their personal lives and creative out-
put were enormously modified by their disease.
VII
Mozart, Baudelaire, de Kooning, Proust, Heine, von Bülow, Reuterswärd,
Corinth, Füssli, Fellini, Visconti and others are all striking examples of how
extraordinary creativity can be challenged and modified or destroyed or
restored within the individual drama of disease. There are examples of de novo
creativity following cerebral lesion, although we are not aware of any world-
famous artist whose creativity first developed subsequent to brain damage. An
alteration in the creativity of an artist can provide unique and fresh insights into
the complex relationships between cerebral dysfunction and behavior. It may
also be useful in better understanding the evolution of certain artists, particu-
larly when the course of a disease corresponds with what is recognized as a new
chapter in their work.
Julien Bogousslavsky
Michael G. Hennerici
Preface VIII
Bogousslavsky J, Hennerici MG (eds): Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists – Part 2.
Front Neurol Neurosci. Basel, Karger, 2007, vol 22, pp 1–13
Painting after Right-Hemisphere Stroke –
Case Studies of Professional Artists
H. Bäzner, M.G. Hennerici
Department of Neurology, University of Heidelberg, Universitätsklinikum Mannheim,
Mannheim, Germany
Abstract
Changes in the style of professional artists as an immediate consequence of cerebrovas-
cular disease are an intriguing phenomenon for the neuroscientist. While left-hemisphere
damage is commonly provoking alterations in verbal production and comprehension, right-
hemisphere stroke often leads to left-sided visuospatial neglect. We present a case series of
13 professional artists with right-hemisphere stroke and compare examples of their post-
stroke artwork with their prestroke artwork.
Copyright © 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel
Cerebrovascular disease and its related medical problems are very com-
mon. Brain lesions caused by stroke may result in devastating disability for the
stroke victim. Through the continuously improving neurophysiological and
neurosonological techniques and through the development of high-resolution
neuroimaging technologies precise localization of lesions has become possible.
Hence, pathophysiological mechanisms leading to stroke are better understood.
Recent developments in neuropsychology have revealed certain regularities in
the consequences of strokes depending on lesion extent and localization.
Therefore, our knowledge is growing regarding the effects of stroke in the
majority of patients. However, facing the specialized individual and highly
developed skills of professional artists, and, moreover, lacking a reasonably
large patient collective, only few authors have aimed at analyzing the conse-
quences of stroke in professional visual artists systematically. On the other
hand, some very interesting case reports have been produced, going back to the
early 20th century. A seminal article including the cases of four German profes-
sional artists with right-hemisphere lesions has been published in 1974 by