Stephen Wiltshire

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Stephen Wiltshire receives MBE for services to art

Flat Iron Building New York by Stephen Wiltshire MBE (2006) StephenWiltshire.co.uk

Big Ben on a rainy evening by Stephen Wiltshire MBE (2008) StephenWiltshire.co.uk

Venice by Stephen Wiltshire MBE (2008) StephenWiltshire.co.uk

Stephen Wiltshire MBE, (born April 24, 1974) is an architectural artist who has been diagnosed with autism.^[1][2] Wiltshire was born in London, England, to West Indian parents.^[1] He is known for his ability to draw a landscape after seeing it just once.

[edit] Early life

Wiltshire was mute and at the age of three was diagnosed as autistic. The same year, his father died in a motorcycle accident.^[1][2] At the age of five, Stephen was sent to Queensmill School in London where he expressed interest in drawing. He began to communicate through his drawings. At the age of eight, he began to draw imaginary post-earthquake cityscapes and cars.

His teachers began to encourage his drawing and, with their aid, Wiltshire slowly learned to speak at the age of nine.^[2] 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 a BBC programme The Foolish Wise Ones.^[3] A collection of his works, named Drawings, was published that year.^[3] 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.^[4] He can also make imaginary scenes like St. Paul's Cathedral surrounded by flames. In 2003, there was a major retrospective in the Orleans House gallery in Twickenham, London.

Stephen's work has been the subject of many TV documentaries; neurologist Oliver Sacks writes about him in the chapter "Prodigies", in his book An Anthropologist on Mars.

Wiltshire's 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 best-seller list.

Between 1995 and his graduation in 1998, Wiltshire attended the City and Guilds of London Art School^[5] in Lambeth, South London.

In May 2005 Stephen produced his longest ever panoramic memory drawing of Tokyo on a 10-meter long 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][11] and London^[12][13] on giant canvasses, and is in the process of drawing his last masterpiece of the series in late 2009. 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 Colosseum. ^[14]

In 2006, Stephen Wiltshire was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to art.^[1] In September 2006 Stephen opened his permanent gallery in the Royal Opera Arcade, Pall Mall, London.^[3]

On February 15, 2008, ABC News named him Person of the Week.^[15] In his first intimate interview with The Independent^[16] in 2009 he revealed his dreams, aspirations, idols and biggest regrets.

In July 2009 he became an ambassador of the Children's Art Day in the United Kingdom. His work is now popular all over the world, and is held in a number of important collections. ^[17]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Stephen Wiltshire's site
• Detailed Biography
• The 5 meter long panoramic memory drawing of Rome
• The 10 meter long panoramic memory drawing of Tokyo
• Panorama of Dubai, Madrid, Jerusalem and London
• "Tokyo Documentary". The Stephen Wiltshire Gallery. http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/tokyo_documentary1.aspx. Retrieved on 2007-11-12. 
• Videos
• Virtual tour of Wiltshire's London gallery – BBC
• Stephen Wiltshire on IMDB