David Beales: archive

This collection is uncatalogued. The following is an interim description which may change when detailed cataloguing takes place in the future. Born-digital artwork files; scans of artwork by Beales, including for Endeavour House and Dartford Clubhouse newsletters; and scans of clinical records and articles relating to Beales and his art.

c.2000s-2010s

Uncatalogued: 369 digital items (3.59 GB)

Donated to Wellcome by David Beales in March 2019.

David Beales is an artist and writer. He was admitted to Farnborough Psychiatric Unit at the age of 21, and spent the next twenty years in and out of a number of different hospitals. In the early 1990s, he was discharged from Stone House Hospital as part of the Care in the Community initiative. His art portrays the world of psychiatric patients, drug users, musicians and artists, and has been exhibited at Bethlem Museum of the Mind. His compositions are informed by real life events, and are seen by the artist as mapping an area of social history which is underrepresented.

David Beales' Collection

David Beales, The Road to the Asylum

CC-BY-NC David Beales

This collection is currently uncatalogued and cannot be ordered online. Requests to view uncatalogued material are considered on a case by case basis. Please contact collections@wellcomecollection.org for more details.