History offers many examples of artists who’ve worked through the loss of their sight. Jeffrey Meyers considers its impact on their work.
Their eyes, from which the divine spark has departed,
as though they were staring into the distance,
remain lifted towards the sky…
Thus they pass through the boundless dark,
the brother of eternal silence.
—Charles Baudelaire, “The Blind”
Many unusually intelligent and articulate painters and writers have described the gradual or abrupt deterioration of their vision, and gave sighted people a greater understanding of the blind. They revealed the psychology of the blind and spoke for those who have not been able to express their frustration, anger and grief, their fear and hopeless despair. When confronted with the loss of sight, these major artists felt defenceless and vulnerable, stigmatised and depressed. Though all but one of them lived into the twentieth century, their medical treatment often exacerbated the disease. They felt unjustly punished and, like social outcasts, withdrew into their own hermetic world. Their personal histories explain how they dealt with blindness, found ways to live with it and even continued their creative careers...Keep reading on The Article.
Their eyes, from which the divine spark has departed,
as though they were staring into the distance,
remain lifted towards the sky…
Thus they pass through the boundless dark,
the brother of eternal silence.
—Charles Baudelaire, “The Blind”
Many unusually intelligent and articulate painters and writers have described the gradual or abrupt deterioration of their vision, and gave sighted people a greater understanding of the blind. They revealed the psychology of the blind and spoke for those who have not been able to express their frustration, anger and grief, their fear and hopeless despair. When confronted with the loss of sight, these major artists felt defenceless and vulnerable, stigmatised and depressed. Though all but one of them lived into the twentieth century, their medical treatment often exacerbated the disease. They felt unjustly punished and, like social outcasts, withdrew into their own hermetic world. Their personal histories explain how they dealt with blindness, found ways to live with it and even continued their creative careers...Keep reading on The Article.