Macabre Artist - The Disturbing Life of Richard Pickman

Richard Upton Pickman is without a doubt one of the most memorable characters created by H.P. Lovecraft. Protagonist of the fantastic tale "Pickman's Model", Richard was an artist, a painter whose artistic flair led him through a relentless search for inspiration. His inspiring muse, however, was morbidity, which finally aroused terrible needs in him and set the hideous transformation from Man to Ghoul.

The following text simulates an art magazine article in which Pickman's career is examined.

Artist du Macabre

An essay on the controversial Richard Pickman

In the current art scene, the controversy gained prominence thanks to exponents such as Francis Bacon and Anuard Janeau. But one of America's most controversial artists came much earlier.

Richard Upton Pickman was born in Providence, in the heart of New England in the year 1884. A member of an rich family, money was never an issue for the Pickmans from Rhode Island. The fortune flowed from successful contracts carried out throughout the 19th century when a direct ancestor signed advantageous deal with the Union during the Civil War.

Free from financial difficulties, young Master Pickman could dedicate himself entirely to his artistic career, even though he has studied the basic curriculum of architecture and engineering. Still a neophyte in the art world, he already demonstrated an enviable mastery of technique and an innate talent for portraits and landscapes. Even in his early works, the young artist's ability to compose works of a lugubrious nature with strong colors and striking features was evident. As his studies progressed, the boy gained some notoriety for his canvases depicting wild landscapes and equally sinister panoramas.

The few relatives and friends who had contact with Pickman described him as an eccentric young man fascinated by the dark colonial history, especially the infamous Witch Hunt that swept New England. Pickman recounted that an ancestor was one of those accused in the witch trials. Such a past did not cause him embarrassment, on the contrary, he expressed great pride, since this ancestor - a great-grandmother of the maternal branch, unlike many women unfairly accused, was in fact a sorceress. Pickman even studied the family tree, stating that he was a direct ancestor of the woman.

Those who knew him at the University of Fine Arts say his habits were unusual, to say the least. His walks through dark forests in search of inspiration were quite famous, as was his exploration of unsanitary places such as ancient cemeteries and old ancestral houses, some in a state of complete abandonment. He spent time inside these shadowy corners, observing for hours some detail that only his macabre perception could detect: a furtive shadow, a crack on a tombstone or a tiny lichen growing on the marble.

The few to whom he confided about these "walks" remember Pickman nostalgically recounting such explorations. Night was his natural ambiance, and his eyes became familiar with the most bleak surroundings, even when immersed in complete darkness, or so they said. These experiences shaped Pickman's deep sensitivity to portray the unusual and a clinical eye for everything that is bizarre, abject and disturbing to most.

Whatever his source of talent, Pickman undeniably displayed remarkable virtuosity. On his journeys he always carried a notebook with him in which he drew what he saw and catch his interest. The few pages that remain from this period show the ruins of old colonial houses, the wild heather growing in a neglected garden or the cracked headstones of an old cemetery.

When the time came, Pickman decided to leave Providence to attend the University of Minneiska in Wisconsin. At that time, Minneiska already had a community of bohemians fascinated by romanticism and decadence. Modern realist styles divided opinion among critics, but Pickman was in no doubt. Contact with poets fond of Lord Byron's melancholy poetry took their morbid instincts to a new level, that and possibly absinthe nights. However, the raw realism of Pickman's canvases made him shunned by fellow students.

He became something of a hermit among his peers. Criticized for excessive style and controversial canvases that shocked some teachers and several colleagues. Yet his brilliance was undeniable.

Upon completing his studies, Pickman settled in the city of Boston. He immediately began producing his work in the small house he rented in the North End. There he owned a loft in which he spent most of his time, except when he went out at night to roam like a lost soul in search of inspiration. Pickman used to carry a camera with which he recorded scenes, objects and people who served as his models. He recorded several peculiar figures he encountered on the streets of Boston, the destitute, the poor and the excluded. He used these models as a reference for his works, giving the real figures a fantastical aura. Beggars became monsters, harlots turno into witches, and desperate outcast, creatures of the night.

It is from this period the series of oil paintings known as "Sacrifice" in which Pickman presents his vision of religion. A good part of these canvases stem from his explorations of religious missions in which the artist found the figures he wanted to portray from his particular point of view. Several of these works were criticized and met with enormous resistance from the public. In an exhibition held at the famous Tuttle Gallery, one of Pickman's paintings was even vandalized by a visitor scandalized by its depiction of the nativity. Pickman had no particular disdain for religion, but he saw himself as a materialist willing to break away from formalities.

Pickman's art shocked, but attracted the attention of an audience interested in his transgressions. His following series, clearly inspired by the techniques of Henry Fuseli and Gustav Doré, were more successful, but did not guarantee the young artist financial return.

Although the public welcomed his next collection, called "uncommon glimpses", it is said that some of his canvases were acquired by art collectors. At that time, the family business, always affluent, began to show signs of wear off. Pickman moved to a modest atelier and began to supplement his income by teaching aspiring painters.

There are rumors that he was once hired to portray a high society lady. The result, however, insulted the model to such an extent that his employer buried what little reputation he had cultivated over the years. For a time Pickman was part of the Boston Art Club, but was eventually forced to leave the association by pressure from some of his peers who were said to be anoyed by the lewd canvases he produced. The "Nature of the Grave" collection featured a series of canvases showing naked and dissected corpses, these works are said to have been recorded after his visits to the Boston Medical Examiner's Office.

It would be the next collection that, however, would cause the greatest controversy and launch the name of Richard Pickman as one of the most provocative artists of his generation. Pickman, around 35 years old, reached the height of his creative maturity by painting a long-running series called "The Worms of Earth".

One canvas in particular was acquired by notorious Arkham occultist Cabot Jenkins shortly before he passed away under mysterious circumstances. Rumor has it that the controversial British mystic Alesteir Crowley considered Pickman to portray him. According to some, Crowley confided that only the painter would be able to capture his true essence. True or not, it is unlikely that Pickman and Crowley ever met in person.

Pickman's fame among scholars of the "occult sciences" is confirmed by letters written by himself: "I feel very close to this circle of so-called exotic people. Perhaps because they can understand what I want to achieve in my works." he once wrote to his art dealer. Some people who visited his studio commented that he kept strange paraphernalia linked to the occult and that he spoke on the subject as an authority.

In 1925, Pickman sold the painting "Salome" to poet Edward Pickman Derby (a distant relative) who in turn gave it to his fiancée Asenath Waite shortly before they were married. Asenath was recognized as an occult scholar and a woman "ahead of her time". The painting is said to have earned a place of honor at the couple's Crownshield estate.

Pickman's artistic output has always been questioned. For some he rarely finished a work, for others the walls of his studio on Grimanci street were always full of canvases. Some claim that the painter kept another loft in downtown Boston for a time and spent most of his time there. These same colleagues have hinted that several of Pickman's paintings were kept in this secret studio and are still waiting to be discovered.

In 1928, Richard Upton Pickman disappeared from his house in Boston, along with several of his canvases. Some believe he committed suicide as his career had been stagnant for some time. Others believe that the painter had simply given up his artistic career and sought the public's acquiescence in another activity.

A more bizarre explanation was given by the medium Anita Gershwin in 1932 who cryptically stated that "Pickman had reached another state of consciousness, something he could only scratch at in his provocative works".

We may never known the truth, for his whereabouts are never heard again.

In the decades that followed the artist's mysterious disappearance, some signed paintscontinued to appear. All of them with the peculiar painter's trademark: the aura of morbidity and corruption. Whether the canvases were painted by a forger or not is a matter of dispute, but it is a fact that they continued to appear. Specialists points to a similar style, but agree with new elements and techniques.

Pickman represents only a footnote in the history of American painting, at least until it was rediscovered in the 1960s by exponents of the counterculture movement.

In 1967, the famous cultural agitator Noah Crysholm organized an exhibition with eight paintings by the artist that were part of his private collection. The show was a huge success having been shown in New York and for some time in San Francisco. Pickman's visceral style was perhaps too much for its time, but in the turbulent 60's, fueled by rebelliousness and extravagance, they found full recognition.

In 1969, a painting by Pickman called "The Supper of the Damned" was acquired by demonologist and founder of the Church of Satan, Anton LaVey. In 1973 one of his works exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in Boston was damaged by a former seminarian who threw acid on the canvas. The man, considered mentally disturbed, claimed that the work was an affront in the eyes of God. Despite the drastic action, the screen remained on display for a few more months until it simply disappeared.

In 1981, Pickman gained evidence once again through letters sent by the serial killer known as "The Butcher of French Hill". The killer, who leave a trail of death in the Arkham region with eight victims, claimed in one of the letters he sent to police that he killed to honor the genius of Richard Pickman. The letter sparked yet another Pickman fever in New England and sparked a controversial exposure called inopportune by the victims' families. The identity of the killer remains to this day, unknown.

More recently, Pickman has become an attractive name for collectors and dealers. He seems to have gained special appreciation in the European market, which has been avidly consuming his canvases, paying fortunes for works by a relatively obscure artist.

With so many twists and turns in his career, Pickman still seems to spark controversy and interest in the avant-garde of art. It is quite possible that his work will be rescued once more, and return hungry, to shock and amaze new generations.