Stephen Wiltshire: The Human Camera
I’ve always been fascinated by those who have been blessed with eidetic memory, more specifically a “photographic memory” – the ability to recall images with great accuracy and in seemingly unlimited volume. One case in particular caught my attention. I was surprised I hadn’t come across this earlier.
Stephen Wiltshire (1974- ) was born mute and at the age of three diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder. At age four, Stephen was sent to a special needs school in London where he expressed an interest in drawing and began to communicate through his art.
1971 Lincoln Continental (Town Car), 1993
© Stephen Wiltshire
At age 8, Stephen was drawing imaginary post-earthquake cityscapes and cars, fascinated by both the destruction of earthquakes as well as the various models of cars.
He was encouraged by his teachers and at the age of 9 began learning to speak. Stephens career as an artist grew rapidly after the age of 10. Eventually, he learned to look at a scene once and then draw a very accurate and very detailed picture of it. His oil paintings have a photographic quality:
Los Angeles Traffic (Oil on canvas), 1996
© Stephen Wiltshire
San Francisco by Night (Oil on canvas), 1998
© Stephen Wiltshire
Stephen’ interest in archecture spawned a wonderful series of cityscape drawings from memory. Stephen drew the whole of central London after a helicopter trip above it and continued with these drawings, travelling to other parts of the world to make them.
I visited Stephen’s website, which includes a nice gallery of his work, but what I was really happy to come across were two video excerpts of Stephen making his intricate panoramic drawings from memory. This is truly remarkable. Rome:Tokyo:In October and November 2003, thousands flocked to the Orleans House gallery in Twickenham near London, England, to see the first major retrospective of Stephen’s work. The exhibition covered the 20-year period, from 1983 to 2003, and comprised 150 examples of Stephen’s drawings, paintings and prints.