Mackintosh, Dwight
United States of America, 1906 - 1999
Dwight Mackintosh was born in Hayward, California, USA. Until the age of 16 he lived in the family home, then he was sent successively to three psychiatric hospitals in the region. After spending 56 years in institutions, in 1978 he was admitted to the Creative Growth Art Center, a reception and expression centre in Oakland. Introspective and limited in his means of verbal communication, Dwight Mackintosh expressed himself solely through drawing. His graphic figures proceeded from a continuous to-and-fro motion of the hand, and his favourite subject was a person with an erect penis. He likewise paid particular attention to eyes, eyelashes, nose and navel, as well as to fingers and toes, which multiply to the extent of covering the entire surface of the drawing. His ink compositions are accompanied by writings that are more expressive as a result of their gestural rhythm rather than their verbal meaning.
