Artistic Self-Expression in Mental Disease: The Shattered Image of Schizophrenics

By J. H. Plokker. (Charles Skilton Ltd., ?4 4s.) Professor Plokker is an eminently qualified author for this subject. He is both psychiatrist and artist, and comes from Holland, a country renowned for its advanced and civilised approach to mental health. He has presented us with a deeply penetrating study, which is indispensable for those who deal with art and the mentally ill. In this well-produced, extensively illustrated book, the author introduces his subject and examines the history and phenomena of schizophrenia. In the second part, he turns his attention to well-known artists' paintings, to creative therapy, and to a dissection of the pictorial works of his patients. Here, we have some very valuable definitions and distinctions. Reading the account of "what is known about schizophrenia" left me with the impression that this section was not (for artists like me) unequivocally simple.