The Electric Pencil: Drawings from Inside State Hospital: No. 3

2016 | Art, Photography & Fashion

This is the story of Edward Deeds, a man who spent his entire adult life in mental institutions. Deeds's subtle and wonderfully imaginative drawings are populated with a remarkable cast of characters. His subjects include striking portraits, landscapes and architecture, fanciful boats, trains, and cars, birds and animals--a meticulous rendering of Deeds's inner world and his poignant tribute to a faded, genteel past. Rescued from a trash heap by a 14 year old boy in 1970, and discovered thirty six years later by Harris Diamant, the collection consists of 287 drawings done on ledger sheets from State Hospital No.3 in Nevada, Missouri.

James Edward Deeds (Author)

Harris Diamant (Author)