I have recently read three books that testify to the compelling psychological draw of fine graphic arts, sketches and painting in particular. There are a wide range of impacts, from resonating with psychological problems to bringing psychological healing. Of the three books, one is a novel called Theo of Golden by Allen Levi (2023) andwas a New York Times bestseller. The other two books are non-fiction: All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bringley (2023) andThe Art Thief by Michael Finkel (2023). I will start with the two books that presented art as psychotherapy for the protagonists.
Theo of Golden tells the story of a 86 year old man, calling himself only Theo, who seeks connection with self and others. This mysterious old man, very rich and cultured, comes to a small Georgia town called Golden. There he soon visits a coffee shop where his attention is quickly drawn to the 92 pen and pencil portraits of its regular customers covering the shop's walls. These pictures seemed to express the very essence of their subjects, their very souls. They were masterpieces of portriature.Theo began to purchase the pictures one at a time and to give the one just bought to the person in the picture. In the conversation around the giving, Theo helped that person see herself or himself more fully, while Theo himself forged a relationship.
Art as individual psychotherapy was illustrated in All the Beauty in the World. It was written by and tells the true story of the writer, a young man who became a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Before that, he had begun his career on the prestigious New Yorker. At that time, his adored older brother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The job lost its meaning. He got what he thought was a temporary job as a guard at the Met. He stayed 10 years. While working there, he learned to stand very still as he protected the masterpieces and as he absorbed what they were about. As this happened, various paintings helped him to grieve his brother. In this book, he described the artwork that had most strongly touched and enriched him.
The ArtThief is a true-crime, psychological thriller that tells the the story, as understood by its author, of the most prolific art thief that ever was. His art thievery was an expression of a disturbed personality, perhaps related to what has been called the Stendhal syndrome, wherein a person becomes overcome by artworks. The thief himself called art his drug of choice. One psychtherapist concluded that he stole solely for the love of art. When he fell in love with a piece, he had to have it, and he had to have more than 200 pieces worth an estimated $2 billion. He never sold even one. He kept them at home, where he could have them as part of what he saw as his collection. The writer said after their interviews, "He prefers to be thought of as art collector with an unorthodox acquisition style" (p.16).
I have not told the endings of each tale in case you might want to find out for yourself. All three books speak to the psychological power of art.
REFERENCES
Bringley, P. (2023). All the Beauty in the World. Simon &Schuster Paperbacks.
Finkel, M. (2023). The Art Thief. Vintage Books.
Levi, A. (2023).Theo of Golden. Atria Paperback.