Stephen Wiltshire was born in April 24, 1974, in London, from Caribbean parents. Simply put, the artist has a prodigious memory. The architectural artist draws detailed cityscapes after having glanced at them only once, usually from an helicopter.
Even the number of windows in all the major buildings is correct in his drawings, according to the film Beautiful Minds: A Voyage into the Brain.
When Stephen Wiltshire was three years old he was diagnosed with autism. The only pastime he truly enjoyed was drawing, as he didn’t learn to talk until he was nine. In a way, putting pen to paper was his way of communicating with the outside world.
His drawings of animals, London buses, and buildings were masterpieces, and media started paying attention to the talent of this young child. At age of 8, he was first commissioned by the British Prime Minister to draw the Salisbury Cathedral.
The teachers at his school would encourage him to speak by temporarily taking away his art supplies. This way, the first words Stephen uttered were paper and pencil, as he was forced to ask for them.
Stephen Wiltshire has produced calendars and four books, Drawings (1987), Cities (1989), Floating Cities (1991), and American Dream (1993). The artist was appointed Member of the Order of The British Empire by Queen Elizabeth, and he has been shown and commissioned by cities all around the globe. Wiltshire draws more portraits of people than buildings; he keeps these compositions on his private sketchbooks.
Stephen Wiltshire has another obsession that is reflected in his work: American cars. His collection already boasts 70 models, including a 1969 Cadillac Sedan De Ville, a 1974 Dodge Monaco Police car, and the Blues Brothers auto. He is said to have an encyclopedic knowledge of cars.
The artist uses Staedtler supplies for his pen and ink drawings, and as he creates these elaborate compositions, he enjoys listening to music from the sixties, seventies, eighties, and nineties rock , motown, funk, soul, R’n’B, and pop.
Wiltshire loves New York City for its buildings and not necessarily its spirit. He can’t interpret what he sees, only duplicate it.
Stephen Wiltshire favorite artist is the hyper realist painter, Richard Estes.
The curator Mark De Novellis said that while autism is important to Wiltshire’s art, he doesn’t want to be seen just as an autistic artist. “In the past he has sometimes been treated as a performing chimp,” said De Novellis. “People have sat him down to draw a building from memory, as if it was a party trick. Stephen has developed verbally, emotionally, artistically.”
When we admire one of his London drawings, we are transported back to a time of carriages, imposing buildings, and fog. His work echoes the work of Victorian artists and the depiction of a city in the midst of an industrial revolution. London has always been a big attraction for the keen eyes of artists across the centuries.
Stephen Wiltshire possesses what is known as Savant Syndrome, which means that while he may have autism, he also demonstrates unique skills. MD Darold Treffert explains:
Like other savant artists, Stephen’s work depicts exactly what he sees without embellishment, stylization, or interpretation. He makes no notes; impressions are indelibly and faithfully inscribed from a single exposure for later recall and he draws swiftly, beginning anywhere on the page. Thus, like Alonzo Clemons and Richard Wawro, his remarkable artistic ability is linked to an equally remarkable memory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phkNgC8Vxj4
“Do the best you can and never stop,” Stephen Wiltshire’s favorite motto.
Stephen’s latest piece is a drawing of Mexico City after flying over the metropolis for 40 minutes and in the space of four days he already had 80% of the work finished. Mexico City is a city of contrasts where skyscrapers are nestled next to dainty colonial buildings. Uniting the passion of drawing with music, he listened to The Jackson Five, Bee Gees, and James Brown, and as he drew each painstaking detail, he would sometimes sing along. Among the many sites to be admired, the ones that captured his attention were the emblematic Torre Latinoamericana, the lush Bosque de Chapultepec, and the Paseo de la Reforma.
You can check out the artist’s whereabouts in his website.
