Psychiatric patient 11, circles and a triangle on a red background / multicoloured cubes on a black background (artworks)

The descriptions of the artworks are taken from notes written by Wellcome staff during conversations with Rita Simon between 1995 and 1997: The wife's work is on the left and comprises a red background with a yellow triangle representing the child and red and green circles representing the parents (mother and husband respectively). The husband's work is on the right and comprises coloured cubes on a black background. There is a red dab of paint on the black background which was put there by the autistic son, to the irritation of the father

The title has been supplied by the cataloguer for identification purposes.

The date is based on the date of the son's paintings (see PP/RSI/B/1/2/8)

Rita Simon's style classification: Archaic Massive (wife) and Traditional Linear (husband)

c.1978

2 artworks (1 sheet) Bodycolour on paper, 52.1 x 77.5 cm

The sheet comprises two artworks created by a husband and wife with an autistic child. Rita Simon initially worked with the child for 6 months when he was 3 years old (see Psychiatric patient 16 - PP/RSI/B/1/2/6) but she felt she should also see the parents. They painted with the child for one day a week, the child came alone one day a week, and one parent (usually the mother) would come on a third day of the week. Rita Simon recorded the parents as suffering from folie à deux, the husband was obsessional and the wife was paranoid. They argued during the session and the husband accused the wife of encroaching on his side of the paper.

This information is taken from conversations between Rita Simon and Wellcome staff between 1995 and 1997.

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