Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists (Frontiers of Neurology and Neuroscience), Part 3

251 Pages·2010·3.77 MB·English

by  J. Bogousslavsky

Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists – Part 3
Frontiers of Neurology and
Neuroscience
Vol. 27
Series Editor
J. Bogousslavsky Montreux
Neurological Disorders in
Famous Artists – Part 3
Volume Editors
J. Bogousslavsky Montreux
M.G. Hennerici Mannheim
H. Bäzner Stuttgart
C. Bassetti Lugano
62 figures, 19 in color, and 8 tables, 2010
Basel·Freiburg·Paris·London·New York·Bangalore·
Bangkok ·Shanghai·Singapore·Tokyo·Sydney
Frontiers of Neurology and Neuroscience
Vols. 1–18 were published as Monographs in Clinical Neuroscience
Julien Bogousslavsky, MD Michael G. Hennerici, MD
Center for Brain and Nervous System Department of Neurology
Disorders, and Neurorehabilitation University of Heidelberg
Services Universitätsmedizin Mannheim UMM
Genolier Swiss Medical Network Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3
Clinique Valmont DE-68167 Mannheim (Germany)
CH-1823 Glion/Montreux (Switzerland)
Claudio Bassetti, MD
Hansjörg Bäzner, MD Neurocenter of Southern Switzerland
Department of Neurology Department of Neurology
Klinikum Stuttgart, Bürgerhospital Ospedale Civico
Tunzhofer Strasse 14-16 Via Tesserete 46
DE-70191 Stuttgart (Germany) CH-6903 Lugano (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 2010 by S. Karger AG, P.O. Box, CH–4009 Basel (Switzerland)
www.karger.com
Printed in Switzerland on acid-free and non-aging paper (ISO 9706) by Reinhardt Druck, Basel
ISSN 1660–4431
ISBN 978–3–8055–9330–4
e-ISBN 978–3–8055–9331–1
Contents
VII Preface
1 Leonardo da Vinci and Stroke – Vegetarian Diet as a Possible Cause
Öztürk, S¸. (Ankara); Altieri, M.; Troisi, P. (Rome)
11 Paul Klee’s Illness (Systemic Sclerosis) and Artistic Transfiguration
Suter, H. (Fahrni)
29 The Last Myth of Giorgio de Chirico: Neurological Art
Bogousslavsky, J. (Montreux)
46 Egon Schiele and Dystonia
Erbguth, F.J. (Nuremberg)
61 Syphilis in German-Speaking Composers – ‘Examination Results
Are Confidential’
Bäzner, H. (Mannheim/Stuttgart); Hennerici, M.G. (Mannheim)
84 Hector Berlioz and Other Famous Artists with Opium Abuse
Wolf, P.L. (San Diego, Calif.)
92 Shostakovich and ALS
Kalapatapu, V.R.; Gilkey, A.P.; Pascuzzi, R.M. (Indianapolis, Ind.)
101 Suffering for Her Art: The Chronic Pain Syndrome of Pianist Clara
Wieck-Schumann
Altenmüller, E.; Kopiez, R. (Hannover)
V
119 Bravo! Neurology at the Opera
Matthews, B.R. (Indianapolis, Ind.)
130 Stendhal’s Aphasic Spells: The First Report of Transient Ischemic Attacks
Followed by Stroke
Bogousslavsky, J. (Montreux); Assal, G. (Lausanne)
143 The Missing Hands of Blaise Cendrars
Tatu, L. (Besançon)
160 Visual Experiences of Blaise Pascal
Paciaroni, M. (Perugia)
168 Autism and Art
James, I. (Oxford)
174 ‘A Man Can Be Destroyed but Not Defeated’: Ernest Hemingway’s Near-Death
Experience and Declining Health
Dieguez, S. (Lausanne)
207 ‘The Adventure’: Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz’s Extraordinary
Stroke Diary
Bogousslavsky, J. (Montreux)
216 Portrayal of Neurological Illness and Physicians in the Works
of Shakespeare
Matthews, B.R. (Indianapolis, Ind.)
227 The Neurology of Literature
Perkin, G.D. (London)
238 Author Index
239 Subject Index
Contents VI
Preface
This is the third volume of ‘Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists’, a
‘series’ we initiated in 2005 highlighting the relationship between neurological
disease and creativity in famous painters, writers, poets, philosophers, and
musicians. The first trigger was the important observation that the biographic
reports of Guillaume Apollinaire available at that time failed to match the actual
changes in his personality and activity after World War I, mainly because of
unwarranted psychological interpretations in a man who in fact suffered from a
traumatic brain lesion, with subsequent paralysis, epilepsy, and associated emo-
tional behaviors. Following this landmark several examples of dramatic modifi-
cations in artistic output after stroke, brain tumor or other neurological diseases
were identified in poets such as Guy de Maupassant, painters like Caspar David
Friedrich and Anton Räderscheidt, or composers including George Gershwin,
Joseph Haydn or Maurice Ravel, which we addressed in the preceding volumes.
On the other hand, we also emphasized that neurological diseases can some-
times be the start of artistic renewal, as was the case in Willem de Kooning
(dementia), Carl Fredrik Reuterswärdt or Lovis Corinth (stroke). In this third
volume, we present a series of painters, musicians and writers who also had to
fight against an acute or chronic neurological disease, sometimes without suc-
cess (e.g. Shostakovich, Schumann, Wolf, and Pascal), but often with a dynamic
and paradoxically creative integration of the clinical disorder into their artistic
production (e.g. Klee and Ramuz). The case of Blaise Cendrars is particularly
striking; he lost his right writing hand during the war in 1915 and developed
phantom pain which considerably influenced his subsequent work, written with
the left hand. Forty years later he lost the use of his left hand after a stroke; he
VII
partly recovered, but was finally paralyzed after stroke recurrence. Writers may
also occasionally write the first report of a medical condition that they observed
in themselves. This was the case for Stendhal who made the first detailed report
of aphasic transient ischemic attacks, before he died of a stroke shortly there-
after. In other, fortunately rarer instances, a neurological disease has been inac-
curately attributed to an artist in order to explain certain features of his work,
the best example being de Chirico whose paintings supposedly were influenced
by migraine or epilepsy from which he is unlikely to have suffered. Egon
Schiele’s depiction of his body in self-portraits rather displayed emotions and
psychic conflicts in dystonia-like poses he knew from photographs of hysterical
patients, but he did not himself suffer from the disease. Similarly in this volume
some chapters focus on neurological conditions reported in artistic work. We
already know about hemiplegia or chorea in Egyptian frescoes, and of the
Babinski sign in baby Jesus’ foot being kissed in medieval paintings, but less
known are certain conditions described by Shakespeare, Dumas, and in operas.
The editors are grateful to the erudite authors of the chapters herein, often
striking and entertaining, and which bring new light to both artists and neuro-
logical conditions.
Julien Bogousslavsky
Michael G. Hennerici
Hansjörg Bäzner
Claudio Bassetti
Preface VIII
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Leonardo da Vinci and Stroke – Vegetarian
Diet as a Possible Cause
S¸erefnur Öztürka, Marta Altierib, Pina Troisib
aDepartment of Neurology, Ankara Numune Education and Research Hospital,
Ankara, Turkey, and bDepartment of Neurological Sciences, Clinica Neurologica A,
‘Sapienza’ University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Abstract
Leonardo da Vinci (April 15, 1452 to May 2, 1519) was an Italian Renaissance archi-
tect, musician, anatomist, inventor, engineer, sculptor, geometer, and painter. It has been
gleaned from the many available historical documents that da Vinci was a vegetarian who
respected and loved animals, and that he suffered from right hemiparesis in the last 5 years of
his life. A vegetarian diet has both positive and negative infl uences on the cerebrovascular
system. In this report, a possible relation between a vegetarian diet and stroke is discussed
from various perspectives as related to Leonardo da Vinci’s stroke.
Copyright © 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel
Leonardo da Vinci: As a Vegetarian Artist
Leonardo da Vinci (born April 15, 1452 in Vinci; died May 2, 1519 in
Ambroise) was an Italian Renaissance architect, musician, anatomist, inven-
tor, engineer, sculptor, geometer, and painter (fi g. 1) [http://www.settemuse.it].
He has been described as the archetype of ‘Renaissance man’ and a universal
genius. Da Vinci is famous for his masterly paintings, among them ‘The Last
Supper’ and ‘Mona Lisa’, and is also known for his designs and inventions,
many of which anticipated modern technology, though few of them were con-
structed in his lifetime. In addition, he helped advance the study of anatomy,
astronomy, and civil engineering [http://www.artinvest2000.com; http://www.
leonardo2007.com; http://www.bilanciozero.net; http://www.centroarte.com;
http//italian.classic-literature.co.uk/leonardo-da-vinci].
The fi rst known biography of da Vinci was published in 1550 by Giorgio
Vasari in his ‘Vite de’ piu eccelenti architettori, pittori e scultori italiani’ (‘The