Stephen Wiltshire
Stephen Wiltshire MBE, (born 24 April 1974) is a British architectural artist of West Indian ancestry who has been diagnosed with autism.[1][2] He is known for his ability to draw from memory a landscape after seeing it just once. His work has received worldwide popularity.
In 2006, Wiltshire was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to art.[1] In the same year, he opened a permanent gallery on the Royal Opera Arcade in London.[3]
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[edit] Early life and education
Wiltshire was born in London, England, in 1974 to West Indian parents.[1] Wiltshire was mute when young. At age three, he was diagnosed as autistic. The same year, his father died in a motorcycle accident.[1][2]
At age five, Stephen was sent to Queensmill School in London where he expressed interest in drawing. He began to communicate through his art. His teachers encouraged his drawing, and with their aid Wiltshire learned to speak at age five.[2] At the age of eight, he started drawing imaginary post-earthquake cityscapes and cars. When he was ten, Wiltshire drew a sequence of drawings of London landmarks, one for each letter, that he called a "London Alphabet".[3]
In 1987, Wiltshire was part of the BBC programme The Foolish Wise Ones.[3] Drawings, a collection of his works, was published that same year.[3]
Between 1995 and his graduation in 1998, Wiltshire attended the City and Guilds of London Art School[4] in Kennington, Lambeth, South London.
[edit] Career
Wiltshire can look at a target once and then draw an accurate and detailed picture of it. He once drew the whole of central London after a helicopter trip above it.[5] He also draws imaginary scenes, for example, St. Paul's Cathedral surrounded by flames.
Wiltshire's early books include Drawings (1987), Cities (1989), Floating Cities (1991), and Stephen Wiltshire's American Dream (1993). His third book, Floating Cities (Michael Joseph, 1991), was number one on the Sunday Times bestseller list.
In 2003, a retrospective of his work was held in the Orleans House gallery in Twickenham, London.
In May 2005 Stephen produced his longest ever panoramic memory drawing of Tokyo on a 10-foot-long (3.0 m) canvas within seven days following a short helicopter ride over the city. Since then he has drawn Rome, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Madrid,[6] Dubai,[7][8] Jerusalem[9][10] and London[11][12] on giant canvasses. When Wiltshire took the helicopter ride over Rome, he drew it in such great detail that he drew the exact number of columns in the Pantheon.[13]
In October 2009 Stephen completed the last work in the series of panoramas, an 18-foot (5.5 m) memory drawing of his "spiritual home", New York City.[14][15] Following a 20-minute helicopter ride over the city he sketched the view of New Jersey, Manhattan, the Financial District, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn over five days at the Pratt Institute college of art and design in New York City.
In 2010, he made a series of drawings of Sydney,[16][17] and visited Bermuda National Gallery where the sale of his drawing of Hamilton[18] broke auction records. In June 2010, Christie's auctioned off[19] an iconic oil painting of his "Times Square at Night".
Wiltshire started a tour of China in September 2010, with a first project taking him to Shanghai.[20]
A 2011 project in New York City involved Wiltshire's creation of a 250 feet (76 m) long panoramic memory drawing of New York which is now displayed on a giant billboard at JFK Airport. It is a part of a global advertising campaign[21] for the Swiss bank UBS that carries the theme "We will not rest", The New York Times reported.[22]
[edit] Recognition
Stephen's work has been the subject of many TV documentaries. Renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks writes about him in the chapter "Prodigies" in his book An Anthropologist on Mars.
In 2006, Stephen Wiltshire was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to art.[1] In September 2006 Stephen opened his permanent gallery in the Royal Opera Arcade, Pall Mall, London.[3]
On 15 February 2008, ABC News named him Person of the Week.[23] In his first intimate interview with The Independent[24] in 2009 he revealed his dreams, aspirations, idols and biggest regrets.
In July 2009 he acted as ambassador of the Children's Art Day in the United Kingdom.
In 2011, Stephen Wiltshire has been made an honorary Fellow of the Society of Architectural Illustration (SAI).
[edit] See also
- Beautiful Minds: A Voyage Into the Brain, a documentary on a number of similarly gifted people, including Wiltshire
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e Kirby, Terry (4 January 2006). "Honour for autistic man who speaks through art". The Independent (London). http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article336417.ece. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
- ^ a b c "Biography". The Stephen Wiltshire Gallery. http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/biography.aspx. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
- ^ a b c d e Treffert, Darold. "Stephen Wiltshire - Prodigious Drawing Ability and Visual Memory". Wisconsin Medical Society. http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant_syndrome/savant_profiles/stephen_wiltshire. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
- ^ Education details at www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk
- ^ "Unlocking the brain's potential". BBC News. 10 March 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1211299.stm. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
- ^ ADN - La memoria fotocopiadora de Stephen Wiltshire
- ^ "Inkredible man", Khaleej Times, 15 April 2008.
- ^ "UK Artist Stephen Wiltshire’s Giant Canvas on Display at DIFC", ePathram.com, April 2008.
- ^ A picture's worth at ynet.com
- ^ Painting a picture of Jerusalem, Haaretz
- ^ Wansell (2008-04-08). "Revealed: How autistic genius Stephen Wiltshire drew his amazing picture of London's skyline". Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=557942&in_page_id=1770.
- ^ Adams, Stephen (2 April 2008). "Stephen Wiltshire, the human camera who drew London from memory". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/02/ncamera102.xml.
- ^ "Stephen el memorioso", El Pais, 5 February 2008. (in Spanish)
- ^ Dwyer, Jim (28 October 2009). "Like a Skyline Is Etched in His Head". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/nyregion/28about.html?_r=1.
- ^ "Autistic artist Stephen Wiltshire draws spellbinding 18ft picture of New York from memory... after a 20-minute helicopter ride over city". Daily Mail (London). 2009-10-29. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1223790/Autistic-artist-draws-18ft-picture-New-York-skyline-memory.html.
- ^ Stephen Wiltshire's Sydney project at his official website
- ^ Artist with a difference - Stephen Wiltshire in Sydney, Australian Broadcasting Company, 29 April 2010.
- ^ Article, The Royal Gazette
- ^ A Star is Born
- ^ Article image, Shanghai Times (archived at his official website), 29 September 2010.
- ^ Television ad for UBS featuring Stephen Wiltshire
- ^ Elliott, Stuart (2011-05-12). "This Billboard Could Draw Attention". The New York Times. http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/12/this-billboard-could-draw-attention/.
- ^ "Stephen Wiltshire Person of the Week" ABC World News, 2008-02-15
- ^ The Independent - My secret life
[edit] External links
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