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James Castle: Memory Palace
A fascinating new look at an extraordinary artist whose deafness led to an acute visual awareness and near photographic memory
Self-taught artist James Castle (1899–1977) is primarily known for soot and saliva drawings of meticulously rendered domestic interiors and farm scenes, along with fantastical figures, animals, and architectural constructions made of cardboard and stitched paper. Castle was born into a family of homesteaders in Idaho, and his visual world comprised variations of seemingly ordinary rural landscapes, houses, barns, and outbuildings; interiors with closed and open doors, beds, bureaus, tile floors, and minutely patterned wallpaper; and color copies of illustrated advertisements for food, fuel, and matches.
Castle was a deaf artist who by most accounts never learned to read, write, or speak. In this remarkable book, author John Beardsley discusses how these limitations led to the development of an extraordinary memory, an ability that enabled him to create a large number of distinctly intelligent artworks. Beardsley follows Castle’s work as if through a series of rooms (a “Memory Palace”)—interiors, exteriors, objects, books, and words—reproducing many previously unknown works and referencing other documents made available for the first time from the James Castle Collection and Archive.
Published in association with the James Castle Collection and Archive
Self-taught artist James Castle (1899–1977) is primarily known for soot and saliva drawings of meticulously rendered domestic interiors and farm scenes, along with fantastical figures, animals, and architectural constructions made of cardboard and stitched paper. Castle was born into a family of homesteaders in Idaho, and his visual world comprised variations of seemingly ordinary rural landscapes, houses, barns, and outbuildings; interiors with closed and open doors, beds, bureaus, tile floors, and minutely patterned wallpaper; and color copies of illustrated advertisements for food, fuel, and matches.
Castle was a deaf artist who by most accounts never learned to read, write, or speak. In this remarkable book, author John Beardsley discusses how these limitations led to the development of an extraordinary memory, an ability that enabled him to create a large number of distinctly intelligent artworks. Beardsley follows Castle’s work as if through a series of rooms (a “Memory Palace”)—interiors, exteriors, objects, books, and words—reproducing many previously unknown works and referencing other documents made available for the first time from the James Castle Collection and Archive.
Published in association with the James Castle Collection and Archive
- GenresArt
280 pages, Hardcover
Published March 2, 2021
17 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 15, 2023
It has been many years since I'd given much thought to James Castle. His work has garnered a lot of attention over the last 35 years or so. I am not even sure how I came across this book. The fact that John Beardsley wrote it piqued my interest, as John is someone I knew in the 1990s.
This book is comprehensive and reflective of a "newer" approach to art. Who the artist is and how they lived their life in connection to what they produce is analyzed in great detail. There is quite a bit of conjecture of how much Castle understood regarding words and language since he was deaf. The consensus seems to be that he did not learn much while at the Gooding School for the Deaf. However, he did use words in his work, as well as "nonsense" combinations of letters. And he knew the sign for "dumb."
It is impossible to know what went on in the mind of someone who was unable to communicate much of what he was thinking. Through looking at the huge body of work that Castle produced, it is evident that he had a photographic mind and spatial skills beyond the average person. His memory for places and how things were placed, and his ability to picture a place from different perspectives is extraordinary. It is also evident that he lived in a loving family that did much to protect him from the rigors of the outside world while also including him in social activities. Castle was very observant of how people behaved and had a strong attachment to his family.
From the sounds of it, other than some chores, he was left to his own devices much of every day. What he did with his time was to make many things: drawings, constructions, etc. from the age of six or seven. He used simple materials, pencil, mostly recycled paper, taken apart cereal and match boxes, opened up envelopes, and whatever he could get his hands on. People would save paper for him. He made ink from soot and his own spit. He gathered some colors out of crepe paper and mixed it with spit. One wonders what motivated him to draw in the first place, what his early work was like, since nothing was dated. How many things could he keep in his head at one time? Whatever it was, he persevered his whole life. It was an important part of his being.
Assemblage artists used similar recycled materials, deconstructed boxes, string, etc. to totally different effects. I wonder what they might have thought of Castle's work if they had known of it.
This book is comprehensive and reflective of a "newer" approach to art. Who the artist is and how they lived their life in connection to what they produce is analyzed in great detail. There is quite a bit of conjecture of how much Castle understood regarding words and language since he was deaf. The consensus seems to be that he did not learn much while at the Gooding School for the Deaf. However, he did use words in his work, as well as "nonsense" combinations of letters. And he knew the sign for "dumb."
It is impossible to know what went on in the mind of someone who was unable to communicate much of what he was thinking. Through looking at the huge body of work that Castle produced, it is evident that he had a photographic mind and spatial skills beyond the average person. His memory for places and how things were placed, and his ability to picture a place from different perspectives is extraordinary. It is also evident that he lived in a loving family that did much to protect him from the rigors of the outside world while also including him in social activities. Castle was very observant of how people behaved and had a strong attachment to his family.
From the sounds of it, other than some chores, he was left to his own devices much of every day. What he did with his time was to make many things: drawings, constructions, etc. from the age of six or seven. He used simple materials, pencil, mostly recycled paper, taken apart cereal and match boxes, opened up envelopes, and whatever he could get his hands on. People would save paper for him. He made ink from soot and his own spit. He gathered some colors out of crepe paper and mixed it with spit. One wonders what motivated him to draw in the first place, what his early work was like, since nothing was dated. How many things could he keep in his head at one time? Whatever it was, he persevered his whole life. It was an important part of his being.
Assemblage artists used similar recycled materials, deconstructed boxes, string, etc. to totally different effects. I wonder what they might have thought of Castle's work if they had known of it.
May 16, 2021
A fantastic exploration of the life and art of one of America's great artists. The image reproductions are generous and lovely, and the text works hard to illuminate Castle's careful and spirited creations.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews