More paintings inspired by Robert Lowell, again from Kay Redfield Jamison's very interesting book about Lowell and his bipolar disorder, Setting the River on Fire. There is a section about Lowell's introduction to lithium and its impact on his creativity. Somewhere in there she addresses the history of treatments for mania. Even arch-Puritan John Winthrop had some thoughts about cures, and in what may have been a reference to an early version of lithium, if not the thing itself, he describes a natural treatment in powder form that he referred to as an "elixir made of dew." The powder changed color over time according to the spectrum below, from blue to black to green to gray to oyster white. The first painting is the manic episode on fire underneath the treatment. The second is merely the sequence of colors Winthrop describes. There may yet be a third blending of these.
No comments:
Post a Comment