Artistic changes in Alzheimer's disease.

Publisher Summary The focus of this chapter is on Alzheimer's disease (AD). It is the most prevalent form of dementia, accounting for 40–60% of cases with a 10 -12% overall lifetime risk of developing the condition. An attempt has been made to consider the opportunities and problems of studying and evaluating paintings produced by artists with neurodegenerative conditions such as AD. In the chapter, the assumption is made that in addition to intentional expressive alterations to artistic production, individuals with neurodegenerative diseases inevitably experience cognitive dysfunction that has the potential to limit and impair the artist's ability to realize their creative and expressive intentions through painting. The difficulties of making controlled, empirical assessments of artistic ability and how it may alter the resulting neurological disease are discussed in the chapter.

[1]  J. Cummings,et al.  Probable Alzheimer's disease in an artist. , 1987, JAMA.

[2]  Martin N Rossor,et al.  Some workmen can blame their tools: artistic change in an individual with Alzheimer's disease , 2001, The Lancet.

[3]  E K Warrington,et al.  Drawing disability in relation to laterality of cerebral lesion. , 1966, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[4]  S. Folstein,et al.  "Mini-mental state". A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. , 1975, Journal of psychiatric research.

[5]  E K Warrington,et al.  A disorder of colour perception associated with abnormal colour after-images: a defect of the primary visual cortex , 2001, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.

[6]  J. Stein,et al.  The magnocellular theory of developmental dyslexia. , 2001, Dyslexia.

[7]  L. Fornazzari,et al.  Preserved painting creativity in an artist with Alzheimer's disease , 2005, European journal of neurology.

[8]  S. Zeki.  Colour coding in the cerebral cortex: The responses of wavelength-selective and colour-coded cells in monkey visual cortex to changes in wavelength composition , 1983, Neuroscience.

[9]  D. Hubel,et al.  Anatomy and physiology of a color system in the primate visual cortex , 1984, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[10]  Robert,et al.  Willem De Kooning: The Late Paintings, The 1980s , 1995 .

[11]  K Patterson,et al.  Atypical and typical presentations of Alzheimer's disease: a clinical, neuropsychological, neuroimaging and pathological study of 13 cases. , 2000, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[12]  E. Renzi,et al.  Constructional Apraxia and Hemispheric Locus of Lesion , 1964 .

[13]  D. Sahlas.  Dementia with Lewy bodies and the neurobehavioral decline of Mervyn Peake. , 2003, Archives of neurology.

[14]  A. Kertesz,et al.  On drawing impairment in Alzheimer's disease. , 1991, Archives of neurology.

[15]  K Patterson,et al.  Progressive biparietal atrophy: an atypical presentation of Alzheimer's disease. , 1996, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.

[16]  G Gainotti,et al.  Patterns of drawing disability in right and left hemispheric patients. , 1970, Neuropsychologia.

[17]  C. H Espinel,et al.  de Kooning's late colours and forms: dementia, creativity, and the healing power of art , 1996, The Lancet.

[18]  K. Maurer,et al.  Paintings of an artist with Alzheimer’s disease: visuoconstructural deficits during dementia , 2004, Journal of Neural Transmission.