Art and the mind

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Gilbert Stuart and the Impact of Manic Depression

by Dorinda Evans

The reputation of early American painter Gilbert Stuart (1755–1822) has been misunderstood and misrepresented, until now. The inconsistency of Stuart’s painting style has often been accounted for by assuming that he had the help of an assistant and an inferior assistant at that. His frequent failure to complete works has been put down to roguish behaviour, characterized by hard drinking, lying and the financial straits in which he found himself. As Dorinda Evans reveals, however, there is no evidence to support any of these assumptions – quite the contrary.

Key questions and events led the author to doubt commonly held beliefs about Stuart and his work. She had previously participated in the de-attribution of some of Stuart’s work. Inconsistencies of style and quality had led her and other experts to believe that paintings such as The Todd Family (mid 1780s) or Dorcas, Lady Blackwood (c.1791/1792) were not actually by Stuart. It is all the more impressive, therefore, that her extensive research led her to question her own thinking.

This research uncovered not a rogue, but an artist suffering from manic depression, or bipolar disorder. Evans first associated Stuart with bipolarity in her book The Genius of Gilbert Stuart (1999) and then again in a brief article on him in 2004. In Gilbert Stuart and the Impact of Manic Depression (2013) she presents a thoroughly researched and fully developed argument for Stuart’s bipolarity and its impact upon the work he produced.

Embarking on research that deals with the vagaries of mood is by no means straightforward and Evans tackles it admirably from several perspectives. First, she works with primary documentary evidence: letters, newspaper articles, diaries and medical records. Second, she sets Stuart’s work alongside that of other artists whose work might also have been affected by manic depression: Raphaelle Peale (1774–1825), William Rimmer (1816–79) and George Romney (1734–1802), for instance.

Finally, Evans turns to recent work on the psychology of bipolar disorder, particularly in relation to creativity. She discusses the work of clinical psychologist Kay Redfern Jamison, who has conducted groundbreaking work on the historical connections between manic-depressive illness and artistic temperament in artists, writers and musicians. Evans briefly acknowledgse the possible relevance of the new field of so-called neuro-arthistory, the intersection of art history and neuroscience in the study of art and the brain. Rather than engaging with the sorts of speculation that neuro-arthistory might suggest, however, Evans focuses squarely on bipolarity as a pathological condition. She brings pathology and painting together in new ways that help to increase our understanding of both. For instance, she explores painting and pathology by considering the brushwork of Stuart and Raphaelle. She is equally illuminating on Stuart’s and Rimmer’s use of colour, proving, if proof were needed, that there is no such thing as ‘visual truth’.

Evans seeks to unravel the myths and distortions that have built up around Stuart’s reputation, especially since his death more than 130 years ago. She essentially provides a survey of historical contributions to the understanding of Stuart and his work. As implied above, Evans entirely discredits earlier misunderstandings of Stuart. I cannot do better than cite her closing sentences here: ‘By recognizing his bipolarity, we can begin to understand Gilbert Stuart. Moreover, the self-perpetuating bias against him as a wily manipulator can be exposed for what it is. Perhaps finally it can also be put to rest as without basis in fact.’ That can only be a good thing.

This lavishly illustrated book is written in accessible language and should be of interest to academics and undergraduate students of art and psychology. It is an area of disciplinary overlap that continues to throw up interesting historical cases that often act to illuminate our understanding.

Gilbert Stuart and the Impact of Manic Depressionby Dorinda Evans is published by Ashgate, Farnham, England and Burlington, VT, USA, 2013. 238 pp., 17 colour and 82 B&W illus, £60.00. ISBN: 9781409441649