Visions of the inner eye

Ted Harrison explores the seemingly oxymoronic world of blind visual artists

Mann, who died earlier this year, was not alone in being a blind painter. There are, and have been, several examples, some of whom, unlike Sargy, did not even have a memory of vision. The Turkish artist Esref Armagan was born without sight and has developed a way of drawing by feel and then applying oil paint with his fingers. He builds up his pictures slowly, as he has to wait for one colour to dry completely before applying another. Yet his works have visual integrity and perspective and are not simply haphazard layers of colour. He starts by creating a picture in his mind. He restricts his palette to five colours, plus black and white, and works methodically and without help to realise the picture in his imagination.

Psychologist John Kennedy, professor of perception and cognition at Toronto University, has described Armagan as an important figure in the history of picture making, and in the history of knowledge. “His work is remarkable. I was struck by the drawings he has made as much as by his work with paint.”

Portrait painter Arthur Ellis from Kent went blind nine years ago after contracting meningitis. However, instead of entering a world of darkness, he found himself ‘seeing’ the most extraordinary visions and hallucinations. He encountered terrifying apparitions and saw weird shapes and began to wonder if he was losing his sanity. Eventually, it was found that he did not have a mental