Frank Calloway

Why this artist matters now

Frank Calloway was an American self-taught artist. Diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1952, he was committed to Bryce Hospital and the Alabama Department of Mental Health in Tuscaloosa. He lived in the Alice M. Kidd Nursing Facility in Tuscaloosa. His imagery was primarily agrarian, depicting the Old American South as he remembered it. He drew on butcher paper using crayons, pen and markers. The scrolls were either 24 or 36 inches high and Calloway made them anywhere from 8 to over 60 feet in length. While he claimed to be 112 years of age in 2008, research by gerontology experts deduced that he was actually born in 1915.

Source: Artsy · Trust score: 85% · Updated 1mo ago