|
Self-Portraits of William Utermohlen: 1955 - 2000
All images in this collection belong to the Galerie Beckel Odille Boïcos and are subject to copyright restrictions.
The late self-portraits of William Utermohlen, chronicling his descent into
Alzheimer’s disease, have been widely exhibited in the United States and Europe.
We bring together on this web site early and late works to illustrate the continuity,
as well as the rupture brought about by dementia in William Utermohlen’s art.
The intense personal psychological scrutiny that is evident
in the artist’s late work is a pervasive aspect of his work from the beginning, and is central to
his identity as an artist throughout his career. While other artists of great stature have reportedly
suffered from Alzheimer’s disease no one has been able to capture the personal experience of dementia
in such an articulate and powerful manner. William’s lifelong dedication to psychological observation
and its translation into painting and drawing allows us to pinpoint, before the disease was diagnosed,
the precise moments when the seeds of Alzheimer’s were in their nascence. Among the artists of his
generation, he was uniquely dedicated to faithful representation of the visual and psychological
spaces he inhabited. Even as other aspects of his reality were stripped away by the disease, that
ability remained.
The Early Portraits: 1955-1977
William Utermohlen was born on December 4, 1933, in South Philadelphia, the only son of first-generation
German immigrant parents. After graduating from high school in 1951, he won a scholarship to attend the
Pennsylvania academy of the fine arts, one of the finest art academies in the United States. There he
received a thorough grounding in the traditional academic skills for which the school was famous,
training under Walter Stuempfig, the noted realist American painter. This was William’s first chance
to escape south Philadelphia and his working class background. In the late 1950s, the GI bill enabled
him to travel extensively in Europe on scholarship. In France, Spain, and Italy, he discovered and
developed a lifelong love for the work of Giotto, Piero della Francesca, Andrea Mantegna, and Nicolas Poussin.
From 1957 to 1959, he attended the Ruskin school of drawing and fine art at the Ashmolean museum
in oxford. there he found himself in the company of other ex-army American students, including
R.B. Kitaj. In 1962 William met the future art historian Patricia Redmond. He settled with her
in London where they were married in 1965.
Self-Portrait 1955
PENCIL ON PAPER, 28 x 21 cm
This is an early self-portrait dating from William’s apprenticeship at the Pennsylvania Academy of the fine arts. The characteristic asymmetry in the face and the protruding ear are featured in his last portraits too. All of these early portraits have a youthfully romantic and soulful look. This is the most intense. The left eye stares out angrily whereas the right looks extinguished. The two eyes seem to represent the classic duality between outer and inner vision.
 Self Portrait (half length) 1957
PENCIL ON PAPER check size
CARROLL JOYNES COLLECTION, CHICAGO
The young William stands looking straight ahead with his hands in his pockets. The eyes are equally focused and are here melancholy and appealing. The mouth is sensuous with delicate lips. The mood is calmer and more collected than in Self Portrait 1955.
 Self-Portrait (small) 1956
INK ON PAPER, 12.5 x 7.5 cm
In this youthful self portrait the artist stares through his glasses with an air of purposeful concentration. The mouth is tightly shut and the hair in romantic disarray. The quick nervous lines add energy and movement to the air of quiet tenacity.
 Self-Portrait 1956
OIL ON BOARD, 122 x 59 cm
ROBERT ELLIS & JANE BERNSTEIN COLLECTION, SAN FRANCISCO
The full length Self-Portrait 1956 in oil on board shows an asymmetrical face with a pronounced right ear. It emphasizes William’s extreme thinness. The painter assumes an aloof pose in the rebellious uniform of 1950s young men: white t-shirt and jeans. The attitude is vulnerable yet defiant. He has situated himself in the hall of his mother’s house in Germantown, Philadelphia. He is just setting off for Europe and possibly has the premonition that he will never come back.
 Self-Portrait 1967
MIXED MEDIA ON PAPER, 26.5 x 20 cm
ELAN PHARMACEUTICALS COLLECTION, SAN FRANCISCO
At the height of his creative powers, after having just finished his first great cycle of paintings depicting scenes from Dante’s Inferno, the artist glares at the viewer with an expression of mixed pride and pain. The features and skull are powerfully drawn, revealing William’s skills as a classic draftsman. The hunched shoulders, the receding hairline, and the delicate neck speak of premature aging and a sense of vulnerability. The three-quarter view of the head and the big, awkwardly projecting ear reappear in the compositions of his last self-portraits of 1996 to 1998. The penetrating gaze of the right eye retains its power but loses, in the last portraits, its assurance, which is replaced by anger or dread.
 Self-Portrait (Split) 1977
OIL AND PHOTOGRAPHY ON CANVAS, 25.5 X 20 CM
In Self-Portrait (Split) 1977, William uses the experimental procedure of painting over photographic enlargements printed on canvas with light-sensitive emulsion. Half of the head is entirely painted over. The other side shows the photographic print. But here the red paint of the background has eliminated the errant right ear and the hair as if the artist were a penitent figure or a convict. The split space and the dramatic red and black composition are used again to great effect in Self-Portrait (With Saw) 1997.
 Pat I 1977
OIL AND PHOTOGRAPHY ON CANVAS 25.5 X 20 CM
 Pat II 1977
OIL AND PHOTOGRAPHY ON CANVAS 25.5 X 20 CM
In the late 1970s, William began printing photographs directly onto canvas and painting over them. He developed this technique in response to the photorealist movement, which was the first figurative art movement to gain visibility in what was then the high period of minimal and conceptual art.
A split similar to that in his own self portrait of 1977, but this time horizontal, is used in the two portraits of the artist’s wife. The same photograph is used for both portraits. Eyes and mouth are painted in turn as if the artist is exploring different aspects of the same figure. In Pat I the eyes have a steady, tender quality, whereas the mouth in the more dramatic Pat II is shut and hard.
 The Studio (Self-Portrait) 1977
OIL ON CANVAS, 106 X 71 CM
Of The Studio (Self-Portrait) 1977, Patricia Utermohlen says: “[it is set] in the garage of our Highgate flat, which William had converted into a very unsatisfactory studio. He sits on a wicker chair beside a large mirror in which he and his painting table are reflected. Behind him is his bulletin board on which we can see drawings. The oil heater is on the right, and sitting on top is the pan he uses to melt wax. He has painted his face atop an almost ghost-like photograph, and here the gaze is accusatory. He is proving, by surrounding himself with all his equipment, that he has tried to work in this impossible space.”
 Soldier and Reflection 1972
OIL ON CANVAS, 121 X 96 CM
Soldier and Reflection 1972 is a commemorative painting, part of a series painted to honor the dead American soldiers in Vietnam. The sleeping/dead soldier lying below the peacock (symbol of immortality) looks curiously like William’s early self-portraits as a thin young man. The theme of a double portrait runs though the artist’s career from this image to the 1977 portrait mentioned earlier. It also appears later, in Bed 1991, which depicts the artist asleep—his face reflected in the wardrobe mirror as if in a separate world.
The Last Portraits: 1995 - 2000
In 1995 William Utermohlen was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. In Blue Skies,
his last large painting, William paints his reaction to this knowledge: a devastated
figure holding on to a table as on to a raft in the blue bleakness of an empty studio.
The artist was admitted to the national hospital for neurology and neurosurgery at
Queen Square and supervised by a team led by Dr. Martin Rossor and nurse Ron Isaacs.
While at the hospital, William was encouraged to continue drawing and to portray himself.
These drawings became the subject of a notable article published in June 2001 in the
British medical journal The Lancet.
Patricia Utermohlen comments on this time: “as each small self-portrait was completed,
William showed it to his nurse, Ron Isaacs. Ron visited the studio, photographing every
new work. Ron’s conviction that William’s efforts were helping to increase the understanding
of the deeply psychological and traumatic aspects of the disease undoubtedly encouraged William
to continue.”
The last self-portraits, painted between 1995 and 2001, are indeed unique artistic, medical,
and psychological documents. They portray a man doomed yet fighting to preserve his identity
and his place in the world in the face of an implacable disease encroaching on his mind and
senses. With perseverance, courage, and honesty, the artist adapts at each point his style
and technique to the growing limitations of his perception and motor skills to produce images
that communicate with clarity and economy from within his predicament. To the very end, color,
brushwork, and line retain their artistic and expressive vocation, the result of a lifetime
dedicated to visual and psychological observation and the faithful rendering of facts.
William Utermohlen made his last drawings in pencil from 2000 to 2002. He was taken care of by
his wife, friends, and caregivers at home until his deterioration made his admission to the
Princess Louise nursing home necessary in 2004. He died in Hammersmith hospital in London on
March 21, 2007.
 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.
“It is empty by comparison with the other pictures, and painted in a much more urgent manner … Obviously it is a self- portrait. He sits alone at his painting table, no evidence of paints and brushes. The color composition of the whole picture is simple, just a burnt sienna yellow and deep ultramarine blue, the only break is a little white and the happy light yellow table top that reminds us of his hopeful pictures. The figure is dominated by the empty space, one hand grasps the cup, and the other hangs on to the table for reassurance, whilst above him is the skylight. Although the shape is reminiscent of the other studio shape in Snow, his one leads to nowhere, just to a terrifying lonely emptiness.”
According to Dr Polini in order to continue functioning, the artist must be able to capture this catastrophic moment. He must depict the unspeakable – a certain knowledge of his own end. Rarely has a painting spoken so clearly of the ending of psychic life and the desperate effort to continue to exist by continuing to depict the world.
Desperate Figure 1995
PENCIL ON PAPER 21 X 29.5 CM
The pose of this figure who has fallen onto a tabletop is reminiscent of the bent over figure of
the artist in the painting Blue Skies. Here, however, the feeling of collapse is complete. The
figure is not holding on to the table or the mug anymore and seems stricken and lifeless, the
puppet-like head resting on the table and turning to face us.
 Self- Portrait With Cat 1995
PENCIL ON PAPER, 43 X 31.5 CM
Brought back from his east end studio, William was reinstated into the mezzanine above the dining room. In the portraits that William painted there, from now until the final loss of his motor skills, he illustrated the emotional and sensorial impressions of a man who knew he was losing his mental faculties. A spectrum of emotions—depression, bewilderment, and resignation—was expressed in the works that followed. All three emotions are visible in Self-Portrait With Cat 1995.
 Double Self-Portrait 1996
PENCIL ON PAPER, 31.5 X 43 CM
In Double Self-Portrait 1996, the artist focused on the contour of his skull, which he delineated twice in the head on the left. His gaze here is heavy and resigned and the sagging cheeks are those of an old man. In the head on the right, the black eyes glare out powerfully. Their expression is angry and bruised.
 Broken Figure 1996
MIXED MEDIA ON PAPER, 32.5 X 47 CM
In Broken Figure 1996 the artist focuses on his physical decline. He has depicted himself as a dislocated puppet. Geometric diagrams, of the kind given to dementia patients to draw as tests, loom ominously above him with laboriously scribbled lines at his right foot. His doctors want to know if William can still memorize a list of words, complete a simple
subtraction, name ordinary objects, or copy geometric shapes. The humiliation of failing to answer these simple questions shatters his self-confidence. .
 In the Studio (Self-Portrait) 1996
MIXED MEDIA ON PAPER, 45.5 X 32.5 CM
Private Collection
In the Studio (Self-Portrait) 1996, the artist’s right arm is broken to pieces. Though he is right handed he is drawing using his left arm. The source of his illness is indicated by a pink smear of oil paint on his forehead. The eyes are covered in obliterating pencil marks, a blue streak shuts off the mouth giving the artist a mute appearance.
 Mask (Black Stripes) 1996
INK WASH ON PAPER 45 X 35 CM
Private Collection
The empty silhouette of the head against the black black bars represents a blank, the artist’s impending end. The bars indicate also what must be the claustrophobic sensation of dementia as it progresses: the feeling of being increasingly shut in, as in a cage, in one’s own head and cut off from the surrounding world.
 Mask (Black Marks) 1996
WATERCOLOR ON PAPER, 45 X 35 CM
This watercolor represents a primitive death’s head or mask . Patricia Utermohlen associates the freedom and urgency of the watercolor style of these late heads to German expressionism, the primitive and psychic renderings of heads by artists like Emil Nolde or Ludwig Kirchner.
The absence of a nose, ears and the diminutive mouth indicated by five red dots may point to the progressive breakdown of the sensory organs that Alzheimer’s patients must experience.
 Mask (Clown) 1996
WATERCOLOR ON PAPER, 21 X 25 CM
In most portraits there is an emphasis on the frontal lobe of the skull, where William knows the source of his illness lies. A white substance (possibly associated with scanned images of his own brain and medical imaging depicting amyloid plaques) appears in several oils and watercolors, as in Mask (Clown) 1996. In these Masks, painted rapidly and spontaneously in watercolor and dated to 1996. William expresses his emotional anguish in the most direct possible manner.
 Self-Portrait (Sad) 1996
PENCIL ON PAPER , 34 X 24 CM
Beckel Collection
The artist here looks sad and resigned to his fate. The pronounced lines under the eyes, the sagging cheeks and neck, the bushy white tufts of hair are those of an aging, decaying man. The left eye with the black pupil is the most vivacious, as indeed in the early Self-Portrait 1955, and the right eye extinguished and blank.
 Self-Portrait (Red) 1996
MIXED MEDIA ON PAPER, 46.5 X 33 CM
Private Collection
The artist seems to mourn his lost self in Self-Portrait (Red) 1996. He has become a shadow of his former self, and the clothes floating on the ghostly body show the bright red color of pain. The front part of the scull, the source of his illness, is sharply outlined Red and green are
here the dominant colors as yellow and orange fade into insignificance. The same two colors indicate illness and pain in the late paintings of Vincent Van Gogh.
 Self-Portrait (Green) 1997
OIL ON CANVAS, 35.5 X 35.5 CM
The asymmetrical features of Self-Portrait (Green) 1997, with the extended right ear, are strangely
reminiscent of the earliest self-portrait in the exhibition, the pencil portrait of 1955. In the 1997
portrait, William expresses his emotions with remarkable precision using a new style of rough brushwork and bold drawing. Sadness, anxiety, resignation, and the feeling of feebleness are all apparent. The creamy pink streaks on the forehead and the distorted features are also reminiscent of Francis Bacon’s self portraits. The implacable black background represents the end.
 Self-Portrait (Yellow) 1997
OIL ON CANVAS, 35.5 X 35.5 CM
ELAN PHARMACEUTICALS COLLECTION, SAN FRANCISCO
The expression in this portrait is that of a grumpy old man who is angry and cross. The rough paint
surfaces approximate a style that Patricia Utermohlhen compares to early 20th century German Expressionism. The composition built around the opposition of yellow and blue and the urgent quality of the brushwork also recall Vincent Van Gogh.
 Self-Portrait (With Easel—Yellow and Green) 1996
MIXED MEDIA ON PAPER, 46 X 35 CM
ELAN PHARMACEUTICALS COLLECTION, SAN FRANCISCO
In this portrait William bears witness to his experience of living with Alzheimer’s disease. The world
has shrunk and he peers at it as if trapped behind prison bars. His expression is focused and angry as
if defying fate. This is the most aggressive of the late self portraits.
 Pat 1997
OIL ON CANVAS, 35.5 X 35.5 CM
BOÏCOS COLLECTION, PARIS
The only portrait of another that William painted at the end of his life was that of his wife Patricia.
She observes: “Pat 1997 is the last picture of me and was painted from memory. I had red hair when first we met. I do not have blue eyes, but I do have a brown-striped shirt. My ear seems to have enlarged, and I am seen in the same position as in all the late self-portraits. It remains a reasonable likeness.” The tender yet apprehensive gaze speaks of fear, loss, and bewilderment— emotions that William seems to see in his wife and also projects onto her as his caregiver.
 Self-Portrait (With Saw) 1997
OIL ON CANVAS, 35.5 X 35.5 CM
BOÏCOS COLLECTION, PARIS
The encroachment of a claustrophobic and silent world, which many people with Alzheimer’s must experience as they gradually lose their sense of space and control over their senses, is apparent in the framing shapes of Self-Portrait (With Saw) 1997. In 1997, William learns that only at autopsy will his doctors be able to definitively diagnose his Alzheimer’s disease. This notion haunts him, and he speaks of it constantly to those close to him. The saw is an open allusion to this distressing fact, and to the artist’s consent to have his brain dissected after death.
Self-Portrait (With Easel) 1998
OIL ON CANVAS, 35.5 X 25 CM
ODILLE COLLECTION, PARIS
Self-Portrait (With Easel) 1998 depicts the artist’s head tightly framed by the rectangle of his easel.
The head now floats detached from the body. The left eye retains its vivid dark pupil (as in the early
Self Portrait 1955) and the right eye is blank. Green and red are again the dominant colors. This is the last self portrait in which the artist’s features are still recognizable.
 Erased Self-Portrait 1999
OIL ON CANVAS, 45.5 X 35.5 CM
After 1998 William experienced increased difficulty in handling oil paints. On the last painted self-portrait, Erased Self-Portrait 1999, the features have been scratched out and painted over by the artist in a possible act of frustration.
 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.
_____Top_____Artwork_____Home
|
