THE EVANSVILLE PRESS

Evansville, Indiana, U.S.A.

26 March 1919

(page 7)

YOU AGREE WITH ARTIST, PICTURES

LOOK BEST WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED.

Aleister Crowley and portrait of himself which he

painted with his eyes shut and some of his spirit faces.

     New York, March 26.—The newest sensation in Greenwich village is Aleister Crowley, an English artist, portrayer of dead souls, who paints with his eyes shut.

Crowley calls himself a subconscious impressionist because when he wants to paint something he goes to his easel and with his eyes closed allows his hand to move automatically over the canvas. His hand 'wanders into the realm of dead souls' and very frequently, the result is the likeness of some living person.

The titles of two of his pictures are "Young Bolshevik with Wart Looking at Trotsky" and "A Day Dream of Dead Hats." The latter shows a women asleep on a veranda while the spirits of bygone bonnets pass across a mysterious bridge on the heels of a dozen undressed ladies.

"Most women dream of dead bonnets when they take a nap," explains Crowley.

Crowley says his pictures look more beautiful if you look at them with your eyes closed.

Don't run away with the idea that Crowley is a "struggling artist", He has a luxurious studio. At the outbreak of the war he was in the confidential service of the British government. On this work he was shot in the leg. He became an artist while editing the magazine International.

Disgusted at the work of the popular painters of pretty girls. Crowley decided to draw his own covers. He didn't bother about going abroad for 40 or 50 years to study first.