Arthur Bispo do Rosario: An Unfinished Chapter of The Artist’s Mind by Kathryn Vercillo

"He would work with whatever materials were available to him, including everything from paper, cardboard and hospital linens, to buttons, rubber boots, and cutlery."

This post was originally published over on Loreteller’s Compendium as part of The Artist’s Mind virtual book tour last year. I wanted to re-share it again here today, since it relates a bit to my most recent article on asylum artists. This is an artist I plan to eventually do more research into.

“Untitled [Manto da Apresentação (Annunciation Garment)],” which is considered Bispo do Rosario’s masterpiece. Credit: via Museu Bispo do Rosario Arte Contemporânea, Source: New York Times

One of the things that I love most about doing a virtual tour for my books is that I get to share the things that didn’t make it into the final version of the book itself. I loved writing The Artist’s Mind, which shares short biographies of famous artists with mental health challenges and begins the conversation of trying to understand the myriad ways that those challenges impacted their art. 

The book is just a starting point to the work that I’m doing in this area, so it already feels like I couldn’t share all that I wanted to, and then even what I initially wrote had to be cut down in order to fit all of the editorial and publication needs. And that’s fine but the Internet provides this great chance to share some of that other stuff that was, as they say, left on the cutting room floor. 

So, for my guest post here today, I wanted to share a chapter that didn’t end up in the book for a few reasons including that the artist’s story is very similar to that of August Natterer who was already in the book as well as that I didn’t have time to complete the research that would have fleshed the chapter out more. So, here is the unfinished, previously unpublished chapter, which will give you a sense of what the book includes - along with some notes at the end of what I’d add to complete it.

“Mental illnesses are like hummingbirds. They never land [but] stay two meters off the ground.” - Bispo

Brazilian artist Arthur Bispo do Rosario spent time in the navy and competed as a boxer, but when he was in his late twenties (his exact date of birth is unknown), he had a psychotic episode characterized by hallucinations. After having a vision in which God and seven blue angels descended from the sky, he came to believe that his life’s mission was to recreate the entire universe so that he could present the improved version to God when that day arrived. Believing that he was “conducting an army of angels,” Bispo entered a monastery and announced that he was there to make judgment upon both the living and the dead. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and hospitalized, spending the next five decades in Rio de Janeiro asylums.

Once institutionalized, Bispo became a prolific artist.

Learn more about his work beyond the paywall.

A reminder: When you invest in Create Me Free, you invest in a value system, a community, the creation of a library of online resources about the complex relationship between art and mental health.

This supports a societal shift away from a productivity-driven consumer market where your money buys x product that you can use for y amount of time on your own towards a model that supports holistic wellness, deep creative process, and meaningful social contributions.

“Untitled [Dicionário de Nomes Letra A (Dictionary of Names Letter A)]” Embroidered using thread unraveled from new patients’ uniforms. Credit: Arturo Sánchez, source: New York Times