James Castle

James Castle was a self-taught artist who worked with materials he found around his home, mostly stove soot mixed with saliva, and waste paper, repeatedly drawing his surroundings and other rural scenes. Deaf since birth, Castle did not learn to sign, fingerspell or read and write but seems to have primarily used his drawings to communicate. His work was not exhibited during his lifetime. In recent years Castle's work has been collected by the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of American Folk Art, New York, Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York in addition to numerous regional institutions. A major retrospective exhibition was organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2009 and traveled around the country.