Bryan Charnley : art & adversity / James Charnley.

"Bryan Charley's last portraits are amongst the most powerful and moving statements in the history of art. The words above hint at the scale the artist's ambition. The paintings and writings Charley made document the search to express his existential experience. They reveal his determination to overcome his condition and understand himself. It was the discovery of the painter's self-investigative journals that prompted his twin brother, the author James Charley, to write a full account of Bryan Charley's life accompanied by an in-depth analysis of the paintings. Bryan Charley: Art and Adversity combines biography and monograph. The painter's life defined his art, his art defined his life. James Charley was witness to the adversities experienced by his twin and the evolution of his art. His book surveys the artist's childhood, adolescence and the madness that was to afflict his life and was to find consummate expression in the paintings. Augmented by interviews, journals medical records, letters and diaries this book provides an informed and fascinating study of a turbulent life and the art this inspired. Bryan Charley was a gifted artist who applied his painterly skills to describe the invisible: mental anguish is largely internalised. The works he created use metaphorical imagery to describe existential dilemmas. It was by such devices the artist intended to restore painting to its inceptive purpose and conviction. This enlarged, second edition of Bryan Charley: Art and Adversity presents his paintings in all their colour, intensity and eloquence." -- Provided by publisher.