Neuroaesthetical Changes in Sculpture: The Case of Yannoulis Halepas (1851–1938)

Abstract

The theoretical conceptualization of artistic ingenuity and creativity, as reflections of the highest-level cognitive functions in the human brain, has recently evolved from a purely philosophical pursuit to a compelling neuroscientific undertaking. Changes in artistic style have been extensively studied in association with brain dysfunction in the presence of neurological and psychiatric diseases in famous artists. This paper presents the case of Yannoulis Halepas (1851–1938), who is widely regarded as the most influential sculptor of modern Greek art. At the age of 27, already at the peak of his fame, Halepas abruptly abandoned the sculpture world after developing schizoaffective disorder, only to resurge onto the art scene after an almost 40-year-long hiatus with a fundamentally reformed artistic style. Two distinct periods have preoccupied art critics: Halepas’s early premorbid years (1870–1878), which were imbued with the principles of neoclassicism, and the later postmorbid years (1918–1938), which mark the artist’s transcendence to expressionism and contemporary art. From a neuroaesthetical perspective, the extensive and multifaceted oeuvre that Halepas produced in his lifetime allows a close study of his artistic development throughout and beyond mental disease. In addition, his lifework is a unique account in the history of art of the struggle of artistic genius with the limits of the rational mind and its conscious reality.