Edward Deeds, Outsider Artist, Leaves Behind Hauntingly Innocent Drawings From Mental Institution (PHOTOS, INTERVIEW)

Drawings From A 1940s Mental Hospital

"The artist really should be lost to history, and certainly these drawings should," said curator Tom Parker of his upcoming exhibition. The works in question are by Edward Deeds, a mental patient at Missouri State Hospital for almost 40 years. The show, entitled, "Talisman of the Ward: The Album of Drawings by Edward Deeds," presents 30 works by the outsider artist.

edward deeds

Deeds, who was diagnosed with dementia praecox and schizophrenia, was committed to a mental institution in 1936. Beyond this fact we know little about his condition, personality or life, although the curator sees all he needs to in Deeds' artwork. "The images have one fabulous clue on every page," Parker explained to the Huffington Post. "State Lunatic Asylum, written on the paper by the hospital. One poetic detail which encapsulates everything you need to know about the artist and his circumstance."

The artist's drawings, crafted on the official hospital stationary, radiate a remarkable innocence given the circumstances of their creation. Whimsical lions, wide-eyed characters and vintage vehicles comprise a pictorial land far beyond the mental facility walls. The only reminder of Deeds' dark reality is recurrence of the letters “ECT,” a likely acronym for the controversial shock treatment known as electroconvulsive therapy.

At the time of Deeds' death he gave his collection of drawings to his mother, who then passed them to her other son, who stored them in his attic. Years later, the drawings were tossed out to a curbside junk pile and were discovered by a 14-year-old boy who became fascinated with them. He kept the works safe for 36 years.

The precious drawings, both unpretentious and cryptic, present an idyllic vision from a mysterious perspective. The story of their creation and survival is as magnetic as the raw emotion in his innocent crayon strokes.

"Talisman of the Ward: The Album of Drawings by Edward Deeds" will show from January 10 until February 9, 2013 at Hirschl & Adler Modern.

Edward Deeds

Outside the Lines" is an ongoing series addressing the prickly genre sometimes referred to as outsider art.

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