Artist Research - Stephen Wiltshire

Stephen Wiltshire is a British artist born in London on 24^th April 1974. At the age of three, he was diagnosed with a form of autism. As a child, he was a mute and found it very difficult to relate to other people. When he turned five years old, he was sent to Queensmill School in London where it became obvious that he had a flair for drawing. He studied fine art at City and Guilds Art College.

Wiltshire specialises in landscape drawings, particularly cityscapes. He is well-known for being able to draw extremely detailed landscape from memory, sometimes after only seeing the landscape once for a brief time. In 2006, he was awarded an MBE for his services to art and since has opened up his own gallery.

Manhattan Skyline from The Intercontinental Hotel   Medium: Pen and ink   Size: 420 X  297mm (A3)

This piece is a very detailed landscape of Manhattan, drawn in black pen and ink. The drawing features buildings of different sizes, shapes and architectural styles (some modern, some a lot older). Wiltshire has used a variety of lines in different sizes and pressures in order to replicate the view from his hotel room and add tone to the sketch, making it look less flat. As some of the lines used are quite angular, the piece looks very 3D and realistic. The contrast between the lightest colours and the darkest colours are quite abrupt, particularly around the edges of the buildings which makes the silhouettes of each building look more prominent against the sky.

 

 

 

Street Scene of 34^th Street New York      Mediums: Pen and Ink       Size: 210 X 297 MM (A4)

This piece is a very detailed sketch of a street in New York. In the picture you can see various skyscraper style buildings and an array of vehicles. It was drawn from eye level and the buildings are drawn at an angle, giving the piece depth. Again, pen and ink has been used to give tone and to recreate each tiny detail perfectly. Wiltshire has used thin marks to create the illusion of movement with the cars and to show tone.

Both of these pieces relate to my exam work as they are architectural sketches and therefore, focus around buildings (my theme being buildings with lettering). On the second image in particular, some lettering is visible.