Entertainment · Books & Arts · 1 hr ago
Royal Academy retrospective presents the full story of Richard Dadd
The Royal Academy in London is showing a retrospective of Richard Dadd’s work called “Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlam.”
Dadd is best known to many British viewers for The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke, a densely detailed painting of fantastical figures.
He worked on it from 1855 to 1864, while held at Bethlem Royal Hospital.
Dadd’s mental illness became acute during travels in Europe, and in 1843 he killed his father, fled to France, and was later arrested and committed to Bethlem.
Dadd had studied at the Royal Academy and was recognized as a leading talent among a group of English artists, but his work has largely stayed outside the historical canon.
The exhibition presents his career without reducing his art to his illness and directs visitors to the Bethlem Museum of the Mind for more historical and medical detail.
The Royal Academy of Art in London is presenting a retrospective of Richard Dadd’s work titled Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlam.
The exhibition aims to tell the full story of Dadd’s career, rather than treating his work as outsider art.
Dadd was a Victorian-era artist born in Chatham, England, in 1817, and studied at the Royal Academy art schools.
His biography was marked by mental illness, and in 1843 he killed his father during a delusional episode.
Dadd painted The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke between 1855 and 1864 while incarcerated at Bethlem Royal Hospital.
- Who
- Richard Dadd, a Victorian-era English artist.
- What
- The Royal Academy is presenting a retrospective titled Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlam.
- When
- Not stated
- Where
- The Royal Academy of Art in London.
- Why
- The exhibition presents the full story of Dadd’s career and work.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Richard Dadd was born in Chatham, England.
During a delusional episode, Dadd killed his father and fled to France.
Dadd painted The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke while incarcerated at Bethlem Royal Hospital.
- Exhibition
- Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlam
- Venue
- Royal Academy of Art, London
- Birth
- 1817 | Chatham, England
- Artwork
- The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke
- Painting period
- 1855–1864