Self-Portraits of William Utermohlen: 1955 - 2000
He documented in art the progress of his Alzheimer’s disease. He died in 2007. Much more at his website.
http://www.williamutermohlen.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48%3Aself-portraits&catid=52%3Aartwork&Itemid=94
Blue Skies 1995
OIL ON CANVAS, 152 X 122 CM
Patricia Utermohlen recollects the beginning of this final artistic period in her husband’s life: “William was not happy in the mezzanine studio, so it was decided he should move to a studio outside the house in the east end of London. We were soon aware that something serious was happening. He got lost traveling to the studio and began to miss appointments.” Blue Skies was painted in the new studio; it was to be his last large work.
Head I 2000
PENCIL ON PAPER , 40.5 X 33 CM
Head I 2000 is one of the last, frightening heads drawn in pencil by the artist. The artist has assimilated his drawing method to his destiny: to subsist while disappearing. Perception can still call forth a primal image, but what emerges is also foreign and threatening to the artist’s sense of self. A deepening crack runs through the center of the face in this haunting sketch. The staring eyes are now like empty dark cavities fixed onto a head turning into a skull.
