Author: P. KIELHOLZ, P.LIEVENS, J. JOOS, YOSHIHITO TOKUDA
Title: Paintings by Depressives
Description: Nürnberg, Sandoz. 1969. paperback. English, Psychopathology and pictorial expression, an international iconographical collection, series 8. The 13 Paintings by Depressives, 1little booklet + 12 plate in one map, good condition with lightspotting of the map. This fascinating series of colour prints with accompanying commentary and analysis by leading psychiatrists was originally published by Sandoz Ltd in the early 1960s. They are loosely contained in a white folder, inside which, from the second series onwards, is the imprint of their product Melleril. We think that there were 25 editions of the series and some are more scarce than others. They were subsequently published by S Karger of Basel as 4 collections. Volume 1 (Series 1-6)(1966) Volume 2 (Series 7-12)(1967) Volume 3 (Series 13-18)(1973) and Volume 4 (Series 19-22 and 25)(1978). All these editions are out of print, although the latter one is comparatively widely available in the antiquarian book market for around $100US. The item described here is one of the original sets, having previously belonged to a psychiatrist working at the time. They each consist of a number of 31x23 cm card prints (see individual description for number) and a commentary of up to 8 pages. The author specified in the title is the author of the commentary. The artists of the individual works are not credited for their intellectual or physical property. The collections are remarkable in this day and age for the confident assertions by the commentators of the distinctions between 'art' and 'pathology'. It is difficult to assess from reading them what each author knows about either. Some of the narrative of the difficult personal and environmental circumstance of the artists is of enormous interest to the art and medicine historian. We thought about displaying the images to illuminate our website, but feel that without the permission of the artists we would be compounding the legal breach made by the original publishers PsychoBabel Books and Journals offers these for sale without any claims that Melleril may improve your painting technique, or make your expressiveness classifiable as 'normal' by a 1960s vintage psychiatrist, or whether it will make you give up painting altogether. The dreadful effects of long-term involuntary consumption of Thioridazine make it difficult to walk and speak, never mind paint. Scans and copies offered for cost of postage to bona-fide mental health charities and campaign organisations. Good.

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