ABSTRACT
Neurological cases of professional artists who have suff ered known brain injury provide the richest source for understanding the components of art and the underlying neuroanatomy. The cases of artists with a sudden focal brain injury, such as stroke, are ultimately the most revealing about the brain’s control in art production. Similarly, exploring cases of professional artists who developed slow yet irreversible brain diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), progressive brain atrophy, or corticobasal degeneration is equally critical for further understanding. Such cases of professional artists are exceptionally rare. Of those, most practice in the visual arts. Synthesizing the available published information is hampered somewhat by several factors. For example, fi rst, some of the early reports were published before the days of neuroimaging and damage localization was not precise. Second, illustrated examples of the artist’s work are typically limited or absent altogether in some of the publications. Third, in the majority, little is known from the immediate post-damage period, a time when the brain’s reaction to the damage is still “raw,” to say nothing of the ensuing few months. Fourth, the reports illustrate the fact that there are no neuropsychological measures designed specifi cally to test defi cits in art production or appreciation, not surprisingly given that the particulars in the vocabulary of art have not been thoroughly defi ned. Fifth, not all published cases were administered standard, reliable neuropsychological tests. Finally, the full range of behavioral symptoms, particularly concerning aphasia, is not always provided. The best that can be accomplished in clarifying the neuropsychology of art is to compare post-damage productions against already known neuropsychological eff ects.
