Artist Suicide in the Cinema (IN: Suicide and the Creative Arts, edited by S Stack & D Lester)

This chapter explores the frequency of representations of artist suicide in the cinema, whether some subtypes of artists are portrayed more often, & whether internal motives for artist suicides are more likely to be portrayed than for suicides of other occupations. The second section of the chapter qualitatively assesses 5 apparent patterns in the presentation […]

Pickwick’s Interpolated Tales and the Examination of Suicide: the Science of an Ending

This article examines the influence that the suicide of Robert Seymour, an illustrator, had upon Charles Dickens & the development of “The Pickwick Papers”. {35 notes)

Suicide and the Creative Arts

This edited book includes 22 chapters on suicide & the creative arts. Part 1 examines suicide in painting & the traditional visual arts. Part 2 is on the depiction of suicide in the movies. Suicide in literature is discussed in Part 3. Part 4 looks at understanding suicide through the arts & Part 5 is […]

Suicide and the Arts: From the Death of Ajax to Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe (IN: Suicide and the Creative Arts, edited by S Stack & D Lester)

This chapter focuses on the iconography of suicide in Western art. A discussion is first presented on how the subject of suicide in Western history, literature, mythology, & religion has been reflected in the mirror of the arts. Major themes in the Western iconography of suicide over the last three millennia are then reviewed. The […]

Suicide in Artists: National Epidemiology (IN: Suicide and the Creative Arts, edited by S Stack & D Lester)

This chapter begins with the delineation of a sociological model of occupation & suicide & the application of the model to the case of artistic occupations. The model has 4 major components: demographics, internal occupational stress, pre-existing psychiatric morbidity, & opportunity factors. Aspects of the model are tested in three studies. Study 1 tests Preti […]

Chee Chee: a Study of Aboriginal Suicide

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Musical Creativity and Suicide

The Place of Suicide in the French Avant-garde of the Inter-war Period

In the Shadow of Death

Suicide Among Eminent Artists

Risk of suicide among elite artists was evaluated using data from GarzantiÕs Encyclopaedia. Artists were categorized as architects, painters, sculptors, writers, poets, & playwrights. Only deaths which occurred in the 1800s or 1900s were included. A total of 59 suicides were observed in the sample of 3,093 artists who died. The comparison by profession shows […]

Touched With Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament

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Gender and Suicide Risk Among Artists: a Multivariate Analysis

Research on mental disorders among male artists has suggested that artists are at risk of suicide, but this does not take gender into account, which is an important suicide predictor. This study establishes a link between being an artist & male to a 270% increase in suicide risk. The risk is reduced to 125% once […]

Death of a Princess: PBS’s Invitation to Suicide

Writer C. Krauthammer reviews the one hour documentary entitled “Choosing Suicide” that was aired on PBS on June 16, 1980. New York artist Jo Roman planned her suicide after learning she had breast cancer. The author finds her suicide pathetic & contrary to what Roman would have wanted-meaningless. (NBB)

Suicide as Career Advancement in Art

The author argues that the artist’s role has changed from an era where their work was indispensable, to modern times where artists, both by temperament & by the nature of their careers, encounter stress which can drive them to suicide. This is illustrated by a brief history of art & by descriptions of suicide among […]