Art in Madness - Early Patient Artwork

134 art works, mostly by artist-patients resident at Crichton Royal Institution and some by patients from other hospitals; and a manuscript list found with the artwork. There are nineteen identified male and five identified female artist-patients in the collection and 45 works by unknown artist-patients. The main themes displayed in the artwork are townscapes and landscapes, portraits, natural history studies, religious scenes and views of Crichton Royal Institution and other asylums. The works are arranged alphabetically by patient surname, followed by the works of unknown artist-patients. The artist-patients have been identified through research carried out by Dr Maureen Park of the University of Glasgow and former Health Board Archivist, Morag Williams. Dr Maureen Park has also identified the origin of many of the images as copies of prints and engravings featured in published volumes. Where an attribution has been made but not confirmed in relation to work by unknown artist-patients, this has been noted in the scope and content. In some cases the artist-patient has painted or drawn on both sides of paper and in these instances both images are described together as one item. The information given for each art work, which includes medium, size (in centimetres), and a record of any inscriptions, has been taken from information collated by Dr Maureen Park. All images are mounted on card except DGH1/7/3/1/37, DGH1/7/3/1/68 and DGH1/7/3/1/69, due to their size. The remounting of the collection took place in 1989. All images are from the single volume of artwork discovered in 1983, '1886 Art in Madness by Dr W. A. F. Browne', except Richard Charteris - Playbill for Crichton Royal Institution Theatre, DGH1/7/1/36, which was removed from Recreation and Printing Scrapbook, DGH1/6/17/2 and added to the collection by Morag Williams.

1843-c.1867

135 items

Dr W. A. F. Browne, the first Medical Superintendent at Crichton Royal Institution, espoused the need for patients to engage in occupation and recreation as part of their treatment. He encouraged patients to participate in practical activities such as gardening, sewing and knitting and also creative pursuits including reading, theatrical performances and painting and drawing. Art tutors were brought into the hospital and patients were taken to art exhibitions in Dumfries to foster their interest. He began collecting some of the work that was being produced by patients in his care during his period in charge at Crichton Royal Institution between 1838 and 1857, and later when he held the post of Commissioner in Lunacy for Scotland between 1857 and 1870. In an article, 'Mad Artists', published anonymously, but attributed to Dr W. A. F. Browne, in The Journal of Psychological Medicine and Mental Pathology in 1880, he described three large volumes of artwork collected during his career. The works in this collection are thought to be the surviving work from Dr W. A. F. Browne's original three volumes and several of the works described in 'Mad Artists' have been identified in this collection. In 1983 the former Health Board Archivist, Morag Williams, discovered the surviving works in Johnston House at Crichton Royal Hospital bound together in one large volume with the title '1886 Art in Madness by W. A. F. Browne'. Dr W. A. F. Browne died in 1885, so the volume appears to have been bound by someone else with an interest in preserving the work. Research carried out at the time and more recently by Dr Maureen Park has been inconclusive as to whether the surviving works comprise material from one or a combination of Dr W. A. F. Browne's original three volumes or whether they are what remain of all three volumes. Other works described in 'Mad Artists' as having formed part of Dr W. A. F. Browne's original collection have been located in other archival collections, including eleven drawings by William Bartholomew which are now held by Special Collections at the University of Edinburgh. The single volume found in 1983 contained 134 works, one picture was later found to be a much more recent work by a patient in the 1940s, DGH1/7/3/2/17. The volume was in a poor condition when discovered and was disbound and the works mounted and re-housed in 1989 in three pillar bound volumes. The works have now been removed from the pillar bindings and are stored in boxes.

Case Books, DGH1/5/21; Annon. (W. A. F. Browne) - Mad Artists, DGH1/6/18/28; C. R. I. Scrapbook, DGH1/6/17/1; Recreation and Printing Scrapbook, DGH1/6/17/2. D. Fergusson - Pen and Ink Sketches, Db15(828)f, held at Ewart Library, Dumfries.

Enquiries for reproduction for commercial purposes should be directed to the Archivist, Dumfries and Galloway Archives and Local Studies

The papers are available at Dumfries and Galloway Archives subject to conditions of UK Data Protection Act 1998, Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and NHS Records Management Code of Practice 2012. Subject to these restrictions, this material is being digitised by the University of Glasgow as part of a Wellcome Trust funded project. Material that is digitised will be accessed freely online through the Wellcome Library catalogue.