VOLUME XIII, NUMBER 1 VERNAL EQUINOX 2004

MODERN 'S ORIGINS AS A PRODUCT OF CLINICAL EXPERIMENTATION

by R. STUART; German sources translated by SCOTT J. THOMSON

There is a common belief that in the United States any artistic training, but their aesthetically unimpressive invented psychedelic art in the 1960s. Actually, modern sketches were the first publication of 's visual im- psychedelic art began in Germany four decades before the agery uninfluenced by the religious programming of Native "." This art first appeared in clinical settings, American cacti ceremonies. unaware of its antecedents in native societies and little influenced by earlier Western drug art from the 1800s (see Subjects #3 and #31 were doctors who took 500 mg each, in Figure 1). different experiments. They both drew "trails" produced by the glowing end of a moving cigarette. Subject #31 looked at MESCALINE upholstery with a batik pattern of checks and squares. He then looked at a book, and the textile patterns transferred to KURT BERINGER'S 1927 book Der Meskalinrausch presented his study of the effects of injected mescaline hydrochloride the book and proceeded to metamorphose into the designs on 32 human subjects. Subject #8 was a fine arts painter, but he represented in three drawings. he did not do art during his session. However, some of Subject #10 was a doctor who was administered 400 mg. BERINGER'S subjects did illustrate their written descriptions of their mescaline experiences. These subjects did not have He was inside a building looking up at light coming down through a domed concrete ceiling. Closing his eyes, he felt elevated into the dome and identified with it. "It was as if! was inside the cupula, and looking up as the light was going through. At the same time J had a sort of physical sensation of the entire construction, the ability to feel what this kind of iron/ concrete construction was like from the inside." The subject drew a grating ofiron slates with bronze ornaments that was part of the construction.

Subject #17 was a doctor who was given 400 mg. Looking at a rug, she commented, "The whole carpet seemed to me without sense." She drew a stylized crab, an animated form that she imagined in the carpet.

Subject #18 was a law student who took 400 mg. Either during or after his session, he illustrated the phosphenes that he produced by pressing on his closed eyes. He described, "With closed eyes there was again a strongly ordered surface of color changing like a kaleidoscope and taking on geometri- cal patterns that were crisscrossing as iflit up by a flashlight."

Subject #23 was a doctor who was administered 500 mg. He drew phosphenes to illustrate the following experience. "J closed my eyes and pressed on the eyeballs and saw small Figure 1:A depiction of ether-induced . Taken from circling white points and later these apparitions transformed Les Merveilles de fa Science, au Description popufaire des inven- into kaleidoscope-like whirls of small red and green flecks of tions modernes by LOUIS FIGUIER, 1867-1870.

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color like an ocean of little pennants. Red and green played from now on until later in the afternoon, and I see only red and green in the world and I am searching for blue and yellow." He also drew "egg- dart-molding," which was an architectural molding with filigree or- namentation, that he imagined in the glowing band emanating from an electric lamp that was moving back and forth. The subject was shown a test pattern, designed by the Gestalt psychologist MAX WERTHEIMER,to test for the perception of illusory movement and colors. The subject recounted: "the pinnacle or apex of the triangle moved from A to B and back. There were no colors, they were gray." The subject drew two sketches of the moving triangle.

Subject#26 was a doctor. He drew six pictures illustrating his experi- ence with a 500 mg dose. He described what he imagined while look- ing open-eyed into a dark cellar. "From this black space emerged col- orful swastika figures-innumerable, all of them around me, in front and back, above and below, right and left. Imust have been in the middle of them. They were not actual swastika, but rather like this (indicating the drawing). And then began from the points of the hooks innumerable spirals and flashes and lines. The swastikas disappeared when the music turned on. Unusual, mostly red and green, geometri- cal figures appeared again in numerous places. This time they moved Figure 2 (above). WITKACY made this 1929 portrait of in pleasant rhythm, sometimes hastily, sometimes slowly, then tak- NENY STACHURSKIEJ under the influence of . ing on the most bizarre architectonic forms ... The splendid color and (JAKIMOWICZ 1985, plate 143). rhythm melded into a certain harmony." Figure 3 (below). WITKACY made this 1929 portrait of STANISLAWIGNACYWITKIEWICZ(a.k.a. WITKACY)was a Polish TEODORA BIALYNICKIEGO-BIRULA under the influence of philosopher, playwright, and artist. He obtained peyote from mescaline. (JAKIMOWICZ 1985, plate 151). WARSZAWSKIMTOWARZYSTWIEPSYCHo-FIZYCZNYM(theWARSAW METAPHYSICALSOCIETY),and later from the scientists ALEXANDRE ROUHIERand KURTBERINGER.He also got mescaline directly from MERCKpharmaceuticals. An expurgated version of his description of a peyote experience was published in his 1932 essay Narcotics. The censored text originally included surreal sexual imagery such as "violet sperm-jet straight in the face, from a hydrant of mountain- genitals." Author MARCUS BOON commented: "Profane and misanthropic, Witkiewicz's prose reads somewhat like a modernist version of Hunter S. Thompson's" (BOON2002). BOONspeculates that WITKACY'Snovel Insatiability may have been influenced by his peyote experiences. Apparently, WITKACYwasthe first modern artist to work under the influence of a classical hallucinogen. In 1928, WITKACY took "peyotl" under the supervision ofDrs. TEODORABIALYNICKIEGO- BIRULAand STEFANSZUMAN.Dr. SZUMANpublished illustrations of WITKACY'Speyote and mescaline visions in 1930. In 1990, IRENA JAKIMOWICZpublished a 1928 drawing and ten pastel portraits cre- ated from 1929 to 1930 that WITKACYmade under the influence of peyote, as well as three drawings and five pastel portraits he made under the influence of mescaline (see two examples, Figures 2 & 3).

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In 1932 FREDERIC WERTHAM and MANFRED BLEULER TIONby giving the keynote address. The assembled congre- administered mescaline to normal subjects to study visual gation of scholars visibly bristled as STIENERlectured about hallucinations: BENJAMIN'Sdrug usage, which went back at least to 1927, possibly even earlier. STIENERsaidthat the eleven extant drug A good impression of these optic phenomena is given protocols were only the "tip of the iceberg," because BEN- by the attempt of one subject to paint in oil a few of the JAMINhad hundreds of sessions with hashish and other scenes on the day after his mescaline test. He painted drugs. STIENERrelated these sessions to BENJAMIN'Sobses- four pictures. Sinceit is very difficultto gain a clear real- sion with BAUDELAIREandhis interest in the influence of ization of these visual experiences in words, and since dreams and hallucinations on art. Although STIENERempha- mescaline hallucinations are of considerable psycho- sized that these experiments occurred before the legal pro- pathological interest, two of these paintings are given here as illustrations (figs. 1 and 2). He wrote of these hibition, when societal attitudes were different than today, paintings in his retrospective account: the audience was quite disturbed. The academic world fears that mentioning BENJAMIN'Sdrug use would discredit the ...Afield of century plants. I have painted only one legitimacy of his ideas. For example, one contemporary BEN- plane, but there were actually fiveat the same time. JAMINscholar-terrified that his career would be ruined if This is the only vision that had any apparent he seemed to encourage drug use-decries any public connection with the drug (century plants, pulque, discussion of BENJAMIN'Spharmacological explorations. Yet also called mescal). The plants were in sandy fields he has stated privately that he finds the topic interesting. and did not move in relation to their background, though allfiveplanes moved separately in different Only a few of the drug protocols that BENJAMINparticipated directions and at different angles from the eye. (fig.1.) in were published in English. There were a few hashish ex- periments scattered in the various volumes produced by The second vision was seen while the physician HARVARD,but no mention of BENJAMIN'Suseof mescaline. played the phonograph. The background was CITYLIGHTSBOOKSTOREinSan Francisco agreed to publish flames.The blackfigures moved up black stairways. SCOTTJ. THOMPSON'sEnglish translation of BENJAMIN'Scol- Their movements were angular and mechanical. In lected drug protocols. However, HARVARDUNIVERSITYPRESS this case there was one background, but the stairs owned the copyrights, and LINDSEYWATERS,Executive Edi- were, like the century plants, at different distances tor for the Humanities at HARVARDUNIVERSITYPRESS,told from me. (Fig.2.) THOMPSONthat he would not sell publication rights to CITY LIGHTS,nor would HARVARDbeinterested in publishing such In 1933 G. MARINESco published a drawing of a hand seen a compilation. WATERSsaid, "We are very interested in pub- under the influence of mescaline. The thumb was reduced lishing translations of BENJAMIN'Swork,but we can not un- to a pointed protrusion and the fingers were ofinconsistent dermine BENJAMIN'Sreputation by making him appear to size. be a drug addict." It seems that JANus-faced scholars and bowdlerizing editors are suppressing academic discussion In 1934 Dr. FRITZFRANKL,who was living in Paris after hav- about legitimate scientific experiments! Incidentally, ing fled the Nazis, injected a small dose of mescaline into his BENJAMIN'Spreoccupation with recurrent hallucinogenic roommate, WALTERBENJAMIN(THOMPSON1997).BENJAMIN ornamental motifs may have been influenced by parallel drew three pictures that consisted of words about sheep and observations by scientists (KNAUER1913). witches poetically scribbled across the page. He also produced, while under the influence of Cannabis, a picture of a bird. Drs. ERICGUTTMANNand WALTERS.MACLAYofMAUDSLEY HOSPITALstudied art produced by psychotic patients and WALTERBENJAMINiscurrently an extremely popular philoso- by mescaline subjects. Art generated by their 1936 mesca- pher, especially in literary circles. There are fourteen volumes line experiments is preserved in the BETHLEMROYALHOSPI- of his work published in German, and five volumes of En- TALARCHIVESANDMUSEUMinKent, England. BETHLEMalso glish translations published by HARVARDUNIVERSITYPRESS. has a collection of pictures by RICHARDDADD and other One of the foremost experts on BENJAMIN is GEORGE artists who suffered mental disorders. STIENER.In Amsterdam, STIENERopened the 1997 CON- GRESSOFTHEINTERNATIONALWALTERBENJAMINASSOCIA-

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In his 1948 doctoral dissertation for the Medical Facility of described their subject as a having a normal but "slightly the UNIVERSITYOF HEIDELBERG,HANS FRIEDRICHSde- primitive" mind. They asked the artist to paint during his scribed a series of tests conducted from 1937-1938 at the sessions with mescaline, LSD, lysergic acid monoethylamide PSYCHOLOGISCHENINSTITUTDERUNIVERSITATBONN(Psy- (LAE 32), as well as with methedrine (both alone and in com- chological Institute of the University of Bonn). The subject bination with either mescaline or LSD). He produced paint- of the experiment was a 24-year-old student of philosophy ings during all sessions except the one on LAE-32. The doc- and mathematics who spontaneously produced six drawings tors published seven of his paintings of flowers in vases and approximately eight hours after being injected with 300 mg a landscape, along with a comparison drawing by a schizo- of mescaline sulfate. These pictures represented the "extraor- phrenic. They concluded, "the pictures do not contain any dinary profusion of images powerfully charged, in part, with new elements in the creative sense, but reflect pathological emotive associations so difficult to describe" that he experi- manifestations of the type observed in " (TONINI enced during the peak of the session. He wrote a statement & MONTANARI1955).The researchers believed the drawings about the last illustration, which he submitted along with expressed the differences in the mental states elicited by the his drawings to the test director: different drugs. Although the pictures did look different from each other, it would not have been possible to pick out which What Iwasthinking about asI drewthis illustration: Un- picture was painted in an ordinary state of consciousness. derneath matter, [there is] the Questionable, about which the skeptics argue and are at odds. Chaos, the or- Four prominent American graphic artists were asked by ganic, the imperfect, the inadequate. I am deeplyrooted LOUISBERLINand his colleagues to paint under the influ- in it, unfortunately. Ielevatemyselfup aboveit and strive ence of mescaline and LSD. Three subjects were disinclined for the realm ofpure form, which isthe nearest and most to paint while peaking, preferring instead to "look and feel," immediate passage into the infinite Nothingness. Every- thing irrational, unworldly is located here, hovering in while the remaining subject "painted with great fervor and the Nothingness. Nothingness endlessly encased and excitement." Paintings done under the influence of a psyche- concealed inside Nothingness over and over. "God de- delic were "works of greater esthetic value appeal according sired to look away from Himself, so He created the to the panel of fellow artists, but this was associated with a world." The sense of this is completely clear to me. The relaxation of control in the execution of lines and employ- diagonal line [in the illustration] is the limit of time, ment of color, so that both color and line were freer and where space-and-timelessness begin, and into which I bolder." The doctors explained: can consciously project myself, if I so desire. Here the Will is everything. It alone is capable of giving form to This improvement in their esthetic creativitymaybe ex- the Nothingness. Everythinghere is given to it for inter- plained by the followingobservations. The subjects be- pretation: namely Nothing[ness]! came awareof"dead areas and dull colors"in their paint- Still remote [is] the Feminine-Maternal, which gave ings and wereableto modifythem. Therewas a newfeel- birth to me. Everything else behind me to the right, al- ing of unconcern about drawing in a "loose free way", ways in the right, corresponds to it. These unutterably and this loosening of restraint was evident in the size, lamentable figures torment themselves over the truth. freedom ofline and brilliance ofcolorsemployedin their What istruth?TheNothingness istrue. Westrivetoward paintings. One artist who described her approach to it as the one certain thing in death! atastalos! [Greek: painting as "indirect and tentative with many changes" a-raoBaAoO; reckless,presumptuous](FRlEDRlGI1S948). felt "relaxed about the mistakes in drawing" and "could cope with them in due time" while under the influence LSD of mescaline (BERLINet al. 1955). In 1947, WERNERSTOLLpublished a small sketch of an LSD- induced "tesselloptic " in the first article about During the "Draw-A-Person" test and BENDER-GESTALT the psychological effects of LSD. doodles, the artistic style was more bizarre, expansive, and free when the subject was under the influence. The drugs GIUSEPPE TONINI and C. MONTANARI worked at the caused an "impairment of the highest integrative functions" OSPEDALEPSICHIATRICO"L.LOLLI"in Imola, Italy. In 1955 as measured by other standardized psychological instru- they administered drugs to an artist who worked in the ments. These were naive subjects "unaccustomed to the use hospital's occupational therapy department. The two re- of 'drugs'," so perhaps their performance on "integrative searchers adhered to the psychotomimetic paradigm, and functions" would have improved with practice.

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VOLUME XIII, NUMBER 1 VERNAL EQUINOX 2004

MAXRINKLE,M.D., initiated the United States' first LSD re- mescaline and . On the whole intoxicated sub- search in 1949. RINKLE(1955)reported that he and CLEMENS jects frequently present a spontaneous recording of their C. BENDA,M.D., "gave mescaline and, on another occasion, hallucinatory and illusionary experiences and often at- LSD to a nationally-known contemporary painter who tempt to depict the dynamisms of abruptly alternating visions. In euphoric and hypomanic states their manual showed a progressive disintegration in his drawings though speed and available drawing space are sometimes not each line showed the superior craftsman in his art." equal to the flood of dazzling perceptive changes. The expressionistic exaggeration and caricature of some ele- Dr. JIiu ROUBICEK'S1961book Expcrimentdlni Psychosy (Ex- ments in the drawings are reminiscent of the productions perimental Psychoses) described research in Prague, provid- from the prehistory of graphic art in which space and ing numerous drawings and paintings, including 20 color time are not yet mastered. Another common feature is plates (see Figures 4 & 5). These pictures were by subjects the immediacy and directness of the creative product. If under the influence of psychedelics (some of whom were well- a certain regression may be inferred it is one to arche- known professional painters), and by mental patients. typal levels, to the fundamental features of painting. Such ROUBICEK'Sbooknotes that between 1952 and 1960 at the a view is supported by the oft employed ornament dur- Psychiatric Clinic of CHARLESUNIVERSITY,Czechoslovakian ing intoxications which is also an ancient mode of ex- pression and is reminiscent of the geometrical records psychiatrists conducted "11 experiments with mescaline on and ornamental drawings in caves and later on various healthy subjects; 130 experiments with LSD on 76 healthy objects of primitive man. In keeping with this view are volunteers and 80 experiments on 44 patients; with psilocy- also the introverted lack ofinterest in the environment, bin 8 experiments on healthy subjects and 7 on patients; fur- "spatial insensitivity", loss of established inhibitions and thermore occasional experiments with other drugs, rationally unprepared automatisms. Such regressive tryptamine substances and benactizine." The text's English- mechanisms, however, are in no sense specifically con- translation summary retains psychotomimetic terminology fined to states produced by delirogens; such retrograde that characterizes psychedelics as "delirogens" that produce processes are repeatedly seen in certain developmental "toxic psychotic conditions." The art of healthy psychedelic phases of painting. In such comparisons of healthy paint- ers, especially modern ones, we are not concerned here subjects is described in comparison to schizophrenic art: with matters of valuation but with pointers to the understanding of some creative processes. Symbolism is not so much in the foreground and com- position is not so profoundly disturbed in the graphic From all that has been said hitherto it is clear that the production of volunteer painters in toxic psychotic con- symptomatology, electrical brain activity was well as the ditions, especially following the administration of LSD, artistic products of schizophrenics on the one hand and

The face to the left and female form above were both created under the influence of a psychedelic in a clinical setting. Taken from JIR[ ROUB[CEK'S 1961 book Experimentalnf Psychosy.

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experimentally intoxicated individuals on the other, are need to bring everything including the painted picture so divergent that their differences far outweigh their into the surface of the image. Had the painting process allied and similar features. been more of a technical success,Iwould have been able to produce a fantastically good work (MATEFI1952). It was not surprising that hallucinogens came to the atten- tion of creativity researchers who were already interested in Over the course of seven years, OSCARJANIGER,M.D., col- dreams, eidetic imagery, hypnogogic imagery, and synesthe- lected over 250 drawings and paintings by artists who vol- sia (McKELLAR1957). They considered these drugs as being unteered for his LSD study, which ended in 1962. The art- useful for understanding abnor- ists painted pictures of a kachina mal thought processes. Around doll before and during their LSD the same time, psychedelics also session. Part of JANIGER'Scollec- came to be regarded as tools for tion was displayed in 1971 at the enhancing creativity or for art LANG ART GALLERYat CLARE- therapy. In 1955 J.J. SAURIand MONTCOLLEGE(HERTEL1971). In A.C. DE ONORATOgave LSD to 1986 JANIGERhosted the exhibit "autistic schizophrenics," who "The Enchanted Loom: LSD and made artistic images that ex- Creativity" at his home in Santa pressed greater openness and Monica, California. He displayed readiness for interpersonal this art along with commentary contact. Psycholytic therapist by 25 of the artists (DOBKINDE HANSCARL LEUNER described Rros & JANIGER2003). psychotherapy wherein chronic neurotic students attempted to After taking 75 /-lg LSD in a visual use art to portray the content of psychology experiment in the their hallucinations induced by 1960s, Brooklyn chemistry pro- LSD and psilocybin. LEUNERsaid fessor Dr. GERALDOSTER(see Fig- that three subjects initially pro- ure 6) began an art career dedi- duced stiff drawings, but after cated to painting phosphenes subsequent drug sessions they with an oil suspension of phos- made "large-surfaced freely-con- phorescent pigments GOEL1966; ceptualized and often unusually OSTER 1970). A 1996 issue of expressive artistically interesting Wired magazine reported that Dr. paintings part of which were preg- MARIO MARKUS, of the MAX nant with caricature-like traits, PLANCKINSTITUTEinDortmund, and part with intense colors" used OSTER'S"glow in the dark"

(LEUNER1962). In 1952 LAszLO Figure 6. Dr. GERALD OSTER, chemist turned artist, fol- paintings to study how hallucina- MATEFIdescribed how an experi- lowing his LSDexperience; pictured superimposed on tions are produced in the brain: mental subject under the influ- one of his paintings. Photograph by YALE JOEL, taken ence of a hallucinogen experi- from "Psychedelic Art" in Life magazine, September To test his hypothesis, Markus enced a discrepancy between his 9,1966. investigated sketches made by intention and performance while artist Gerald Oster-sketches he made ofthe hallucinations he experienced under the making a portrait: influence ofLSD.Markus then digitized the images, fed them into his computer, and applied his transformation I see the object correctly but draw it falsely; my hands algorithms to them in order to work out how these won't followit....This desire to paint is harder and harder visions looked when mapped out according to the top- for me to perform since the expanse of my experience ography of the visual cortex. Pleasingly,the spirals and pulls me more and more into it. Myself,the drawing, and circles were found to correspond to exactly the simple the surroundings create a unity-and that hinders me striped Turing patterns that Markus had predicted. because I cannot concentrate on the model. I have the

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In the 1960s the INTERNATIONALFOUNDATION FOR and perceptual impressions which may lead to feelings of ADVANCEDSTUDYin Menlo Park and the INSTITUTEFOR anxiety or depression" (ZEGANSet al. 1967). PSYCHEDELICRESEARCHofSANFRANCISCOSTATECOLLEGE ran a research project on the use of LSD and mescaline for PSILOCYBIN creative problem solving. One of the subjects was a commer- In the late 1950s and early 1960s, SANDOZdistributed syn- cial artist. His customer, STANFORDUNIVERSITY,hadrejected thetic psilocybin at no cost to European and North Ameri- several of his presentation sketches for a letterhead. He took can scientists. Consequently, there was a small amount of a psychedelic for the purpose of developing a saleable de- psilocybin-inspired art before the mid-1970s, when the dis- sign. The university later accepted one of the 26 drawings semination of Psilocybe cubensis cultivation methods made produced in his session: "shroom art" accessible to the masses.

I started with modifying the original idea of the presen- FRANKBARRONwasfirst to bring psychedelics to the atten- tation sketch a little. After a couple of those I dismissed tion OfTIMOTHYLEARYbyadvising him to investigate psilo- the original idea entirely, and started to approach the graphic problem radicallydifferently.That's when things cybin. BARRONparticipated in the early stages of LEARY'S started to happen. Allkinds of different possibilities be- psilocybin research at HARVARD.Hepublished two excerpts gan to cometo mind, and I started to quicklysketchthem from accounts written by artists who were their subjects. out on the blank lettersized sheets that I had brought with me for that purpose. Each new sketch would sug- I attempted some drawings but found that my attention gest other possibilities and new ideas. I began to work span was unusually brief.... Interruptions, such as the fast, almost feverishly,to keep up with the flowofideas. model moving, did not reallybother me and on at least And the feelingduring this profuse production was one one occasion a considerable period passed between the ofjoy and exuberance:I had a ball: It was the pure fun of beginning of the drawing and its completion (ifit could doing,inventing, creatingand playing.Therewasno fear, have been called complete even at that point); I simply no worry, no sense of reputation and competition, no picked it up and finished it when the occasionpresented envy;none ofthese things which in varying degreeshave itself.I seemed to become unusually aware of detail and alwaysbeen present in my work. There was just the joy also unusually unconscious of the relationship of the of doing (ANONYMOUSn.d.). various parts of the drawing. My concern was with the immediate and what had preceded a particular mark on The artist ARLENESKLAR-WEINSTEINhada single LSD ses- the page or what was to follow seemed quite irrelevant. sion, which was under the supervision of a psychologist. This When Ifinished a drawing I tossed it asidewith a feeling oftotally abandoning it and not reallycaringvery much. experience influenced her paintings for years afterward. She In spite of the uniqueness of the experience of drawing said "it opened thousands of doors for me and dramatically while influenced by the drug and my general "what the changed the content, intent, and style of my work" (KRIPPNER hell" attitude toward mywork I cannot help but feelthat 1977). the drawings were, in some ways, good ones. I was far better able to isolate the significant and ignore that In 1967 LEONARDS.ZEGANS,M.D. led a research group in which, for the moment, seemed insignificant and I was the United States that published an LSD creativity study. The able to become much more intensely involved with the creative performance on standardized tests given to 19 LSD drawingand with the objectdrawn. Ifeltas though Iwere subjects was compared to the performance ofll controls who grimacing as I drew.Ihave seldom known such absolute received a placebo. The researchers concluded that adminis- identification with what Iwas doing-nor such a lackof concern with it afterward. Throughout the afternoon tration of LSD is unlikely to amplify creativity in randomly nothing seemed important beyond what was happen- selected people. However, while acknowledging the limita- ing at the moment. tions of their methodology, the researchers speculated "that greater openness to remote or unique ideas and associations The other painter did not comply with the experimenter's would only be likely to enhance creative thought in those repeated encouragement to draw because it seemed to be an individuals who were meaningfully engaged in some specific invasion of privacy at the time. This subject recounted: interest or problem. There should exist some matrix around which the fluid thought processes can be organized if the ex- Now I think that the most important part of what has perience is not to diffuse into a melange of affective, somatic, happened to me since the experiment is that I seem to

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be able to get agood deal more work done. Sunday after- of two of his subjects-a dancer and an artist-who were noon Idid about sixhours work in two hours time. Idid given 30 mg psilocybin. BARRONwas working at the INSTI- not worry about what Iwas doing-I just did it. Three TUTEOF PERSONALITYASSESSMENTANDRESEARCHat the or four times Iwanted a particular color pencil or a tri- UNIVERSITYOFCALIFORNIA,BERKELEY.Becausethe institute angle and would go directly to it, lift up three or four lacked film equipment, the movie was made by BARRONhim- pieces ofpaper and pull it out. Never thought ofwhere it self, with the assistance of BUNNELL.Thepainter did not want was-just knew I wanted it and picked it up. This of course amazed me but I just relied on it-found things to sketch or paint, but she did want to do photography. immediately. My wife was The experimenters let her a little annoyed at me on go outside to photograph Sunday afternoon because children and flowers. I wasso happy, but Iwould not be dissuaded. In 1964, for the FIFTHUTAH CREATIVITYRESEARCHCON- When painting it generally FERENCE,LEARYpublished takes me an hour and ahalf encouraging results achieved to two hours to really get into the painting and three by administering psilocybin or four hours to reallyhit a to 65 artists, musicians, and peak. Tuesday Ihit a peak writers in less than half an hour. The esthetic experience Les Champignons Hallucino- was more intense than I genes du Mexique (HElM & have experienced before- WASSON 1965-1966) con- so much so that several tains photographs of ancient times I had to leave the mushroom art, such as a pic- studio and finally decided ture from an Aztec codex, that I was unable to cope photographs of mushroom with it and left for good! I now have this under con- stones and a mycolatrous ce- trol to some extent but Iam ramic figurine, sketches of delighted that I can just native use drawn by Con- jump into it without the quistador priests, and bo- long build-up and I cer- tanical illustrations-excel- tainly hope it continues lent watercolors of different (BARRON 1963). Figure 7. Many-eyed dragon drawn by a psilocybin subject species. Of greater relevance in Paris. Taken from HElM & WASSON'S 1965-1966 book to the student of modern art It is now understood that Les Champignons Hallucinogenes du Mexique. are the mushroom-inspired artists will be most productive images created by French ifthey approach their session with an emotional commitment subjects in Paris. One woman painted a watercolor of a smil- to a specific project; particularly for naive subjects, they ing mother with child, and ten drawings of human faces and should be already working as their consciousness begins animals. Another subject produced several drawings, one to alter. portraying CHRIST'Scrucifixion. Another artist created two well-crafted paintings, one of a two-headed bird and another In 1962 in California, BARRONand STERLINGBUNNELL[r., of a many-eyed dragon (see Figure 7). M.D. organized a series of experiments with several psyche- delics, wherein subjects were encouraged to draw, dance, or CANNABINOIDS make music. One of the subjects was psychiatrist CLAUDIO In a forthcoming book, Dr. JAMESKETCHUM(formerly of the NARANJO,who received psilocybin. Several of NARANJO'S EDGEWOODARSENAL),plans to publish four pictures by an drawings were published in Scientific American (BARRONet experimental subject who was administered EA 2233 in late al. 1964; STAFFORDn.d). While presenting a paper at a 1961. EA 2233 was a mixture of eight stereoisomers ofTHC creativity conference in 1964, BARRONscreened film footage with a heptyl (seven-carbon) side chain that had been

THE ENTHEOGEN REVIEW, POB 19820, SACRAMENTO, CA 95819-0820, USA 19 VOLUME XIII, NUMBER 1 VERNAL EQUINOX 2004 invented by chemist HARRYPARS.KETCHUMexplained, "At with his charcoal pencil. The paintings by HEINZ TROKES intervals during the experiment subjects were required to demonstrated an almost complete disappearance of form. "Draw-a-Man", a commonly used projective test, indicating EBERHARDEGGERSandTHOMASHAFNERsucceeded in trans- distortion of self image as well as the physical and mental ferring their mental images onto canvas, and EGGERS'can- capacity to create a coherent representation of the human vas was judged to show improved artistry. Part of the experi- body" (KETCHUM2003). ment was televised, demonstrating a change in the artists' behavior. WERNERSCHROIB,reputed to usually have an ag- MANDALAS AND THERAPY gressive manner, chatted pleasantly while drawing. The term "mandala" originally referred to Vajrayana Bud- MANFREDGARSTKAhad a nightmarish time, commenting dhist icons that resemble Hindu yantras. In 1969, JOAN "I held fast to painting for it was the only thing I had to cling KELLOGGbegan having her psychotherapy patients use oil to to save myselffrom total submergence in an inferno." All pastels to make circular paintings, which she called the artists concurred that the experience was of value and "mandalas." KELLOGGcollaborated with HELENBONNY,the the work was placed on display in a Frankfurt gallery. Ger- pioneering music thera- man web sites carry pist who worked at the more information about MARYLANDPSYCHIAT- this experiment, includ- RIC RESEARCHCENTER ing a description in a dis- (see Figure 8). From sertation, testimonials there, mandalas were by some of the artists, a popularized in New Age photograph of an artist circles by STANISLAV painting under the influ- GROF'SHolotropicBreath- ence of LSD, and more work. In 1977 KELLOGG recent psychedelic art by published two pictures one artist who partici- Figure 8. Mandalas created before (left) and after (right) an LSD of mandalas drawn by an pated in the Kunstrausch session conducted at the MARYLAND PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH CENTER, alcoholic who under- (Inebriation Art) show from SCHULTES and HOFMANN'S 1979 book Plants of the Gods. went therapy with an un- in Hamburg. specified psychedelic at the MARYLANDPSYCHIATRICRESEARCHCENTER.Thepatient EXHIBITS AND COLLECTIONS drew a series of seven mandalas over the course of his treat- In Mexico City in 1971 there was a large exhibit of dozens of ment. A full description of the case was provided in the paintings and drawings produced by psychiatric patients unpublished manuscript The Use of Mandalas in a Case of under the influence of LSD and other hallucinogens. Most Psychedelic-Assisted, Time-Limited Psychotherapy. of the art came from Eastern Europe where psychedelic psy- chotherapy was still allowed. Little or none was from the CREATIVITY RESEARCH ENDS United States, as by then therapists were prohibited from The last scientific experiment on psychedelic art was at the administering psychedelics to patients. This exhibit was dis- MAXPLANCKINSTITUTEinMunich (KRIPPNER1985, citing played at the MUSEUMOF ANTHROPOLOGYinconnection KIPPHOFF1969). In the late 1960s RICHARDP. HARTMANN with the FIFTH WORLD CONGRESSOF PSYCHIATRY.The administered LSD to numerous well-known artists, CONGRESS,which in various years had presentations on devoting about one week to each subject (HARTMANN1974). psychedelic psychotherapy, convened at a conference center Artist FRIEDENSREICHHUNDERTWASSERrefused to paint near the museum. while under the influence of LSD. GERDHOEHMANcouldnot paint due to a headache elicited by remembering a wartime SANDOZpublished two collections of art produced by experience. The work of CO, GOETZwas indistinguishable patients undergoing LSD psychotherapy. Psycholytic from his ordinary paintings. ALFREDHRDLICKA,usually a psychotherapist HANSCARLLEUNER(1963, 1974) provided technical perfectionist, drew caricatures and primitive shapes commentary. SANDOZalso published psychedelic art in with crude gusto. WALDEMARGRZIMEKattempted to draw Pandorama Sandoz (March-April 1968) and an issue of a female figure but developed anatomy problems insoluble Triangle (see front and back covers of this issue of The Entheogen Review).

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In 1979 RICHARDEVANSSCHULTESand ALBERTHOFMANN SALVADORROQUETcollected art by the patients at his psy- published pictures of LSD art by both psychiatric patients chedelic psychotherapy clinic in Mexico City from the 1960s and normal subjects, in their coffee table book Plants of the through the 1980s. Some of his patients were artists, includ- Gods: Origins of Hallucinogenic Use. ing PEDROALATRISTE,RODOLFOAGUIRRETINOCO,and FRED DE KEIJZER(CLARK1977, cited by KRIPPNER 1980). Dr. TIMOTHYLEARYandJOHNLILLYdecorated their homes with YENSENregarded the art by DEKEIJzER-a Mexican of Dutch psychedelic paintings given to them by admirers, but these ancestry-as particularly notable, and AGUIRRETINOCOis collections apparently dissipated still active, having participated in after their deaths. No substantial a 2002 group show at SAL6NDE collections of psychedelic fine LAPL;"STICAMEXICANA. art-either privately owned or in museums-have come to the at- POP CULTURE tention of the public. However, News about art produced in ex- various psychedelic researchers periments gradually diffused to accumulated personal collections the general public. In 1953 of art produced by patients. Newsweek published an article about the use of mescaline in psy- STANISLAVGROF,M.D., collected chiatry entitled "Mescal mad- art during his practice of LSD psy- ness." This featured surrealist chotherapy in Prague and later at composite photographs by Ger- the SPRINGGROVESTATEHOSPI- man photographer LEIF GEIGES TALand the MARYLANDPSYCHI- that simulated "the mental pat- ATRIC RESEARCH CENTER. His terns described by mescal users." 1980 textbook LSD Psychotherapy contains 52 black and white British novelist ALDOUSHUXLEY plates and 41 color plates (see Fig- first took mescaline in 1953, ure 9). These pictures included under the supervision of Dr. those created by patients under- HUMPHRYOSMOND.HUXLEYdis- going , as well cussed mescaline and art while as those by GROFhimself depict- delivering the opening address- ing the types experiences cata- "Visionary Experience, Visionary lyzed by psychedelics, plus a Art, and the Other World't=-at drawing by GROFof dream imag- the 1954 DUKEUNIVERSITYLEC- ery from his own therapy while in TURE SERIESin North Carolina psychoanalytic training. Further (LA BARRE1975). HUXLEYregu- illustrations are found in GROF'S larly mentioned psychedelics in other books. his lectures at scientific confer- ences and he informed the general RICHARD YENSEN, M.D., also public about them through his worked at the MARYLANDPSYCHI- talks at universities, magazine Figure 9. The castration complex rooted in ATRICRESEARCHCENTER.He has interviews, and written works. the birth trauma from Gaor's 1980 book LSD a collection that "is from patients Nevertheless, in 1960 HUXLEY Psychotherapy. in MDA therapy and consists of expressed a lack of enthusiasm mandalas drawn at our request about using psychedelics for art: with oil pastels" (YENSEN2004). Some experiments have been made to see what painters BETTYEISNERcollected some paintings produced by her can do under the influence of the drug, but most of patients during psychedelic therapy. Creating art was part the examples I have seen are very uninteresting. You of her treatment protocol from 1957 to 1964 (EISNER2004). could neverhope to reproduce to the full extent the quite

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incredible intensity of colorthat youget under the influ- ence of the drug. Most of the things I have seen are just rather tiresome bits ofexpressionism,which correspond hardly at all, I would think, to the actual experience. Maybean immenselygiftedartist-someone likeOdilon Redon (whoprobably sawthe world likethis allthe time anyhow)-maybe such a man could profit by the lyser- gicacidexperience,couldusehisvisionsas models,could reproduce on canvasthe external world as it is transfig- ured by the drug.

The pulp magazine Fate published sensationalistic articles about pseudoscience, parapsychology, and the occult. "Magic Land of Mescaline," the lead story for a 1956 issue of Fate, was an account by CLAUDECHAMBERLAIN,anexperimental subject who took mescaline under medical supervision in a laboratory. Despite making numerous erroneous statements, the author astutely suggested that mescaline might provide a "shortcut" to achievement for artists, inventors, philoso- phers, and theologians. As cover art for this article, LLOYD N. ROGNANproduced a color painting of a beautiful blond woman-clad only in a flowing diaphanous scarf-pranc- ing through a strange landscape with a polychromatic ex- plosion in the sky (see Figure 10). This picture also appeared in the story itself, along with a drawing of a man who was hallucinating a voluptuous nude woman orbiting the planet Saturn. These pictures did not correspond to the text, and there is no indication that the artist had ever ingested a psychedelic himself; he was probably just assigned the task Figure 10. "Mescaline art" on tabloid magazine cover. of conveying the impression that mescaline grants instant access to cosmic marvels and libidinal titillation.

In 1955 the French writer HENRIMICHAUXbegan painting and drawing under the influence of mescaline, apparently without medical supervision. He displayed 22 mescaline ink drawings in 1957 at Gallery One in London (see Figure 11).

FUTURE TRENDS In 1962 underground LSD distribution began in the United States. Consequently, psychedelic art rapidly developed out- side of clinical experiments and merged Cannabis-inspired art. Since the early 20th century, some indigenous halluci- nogen-using artists have employed modern painting mate- rials and European artistic conventions such as shading and perspective, and distribution to an international market. In the 1990s, non-native artists began experiencing vision- Figure 11. An untitled ink drawing done by HENRI MICHAUX, under the influence of mescaline, from the collection at the ary plants in traditional shamanic settings. Contemporary TATE GALLERY. psychedelic art and indigenous hallucinogen-inspired art will undoubtedly continue to converge in the 21st century. @>

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