Reputedly Illiterate: The Art Books of James Castle

On exhibit at the AIGA National Design Center through May 12, 2000

About the artist

An untutored, visionary artist born deaf to a frontier family at the turn of the 20th century, James Castle (Idaho, 1900-1977) produced an astonishing variety of hermetic, graphically coded drawings, books and objects in a career spanning more than 50 years.

Previously known only to museum curators, art dealers and collectors in the Pacific Northwest, James Castle's work has more recently appeared in New York's Outsider Art Fairs, where it has once again been hailed for its artistic merit and graphic innovation. The work of this American original is being introduced to new audiences through the AIGA exhibition, and by a separately organized exhibition called "James Castle: House Drawings" that is being held concurrently at the Drawing Center in SoHo.

About the exhibition

"Reputedly Illiterate" includes 87 Castle books-twice as many as have ever been displayed before. Of these works, 77 have never been on exhibit. The exhibition also includes an important selection of key artworks figured with enigmatic codes, symbolic figures and haunting letterforms. Castle found source materials in the rural post office and general store his family operated from their home. Through the mail and from the family's bookshelves, the artist culled liturgical calendars, almanacs, farm journals and mail-order catalogues and transformed them into art.

Castle's books often feature postcard scenes, portraits and representations of postage stamps, commercial goods and household objects. His encyclopedic drawings contain what appear to be personal stories concerning himself and his family. In addition, Castle drew books within the pages of his books. They are often titled for the most visible graphic element in their design-generally a segment of advertising or packaging used on the cover.

Related programming

The gallery will feature daily screenings of the close-captioned video biography Dreamhouse: The Art & Life of James Castle.

About the curator

Castle biographer Tom Trusky is director of the Hemingway Western Studies Center at Boise State University and coordinator of the Idaho Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book.