Eddie Arning

1898–1993

Eddie Arning was born and raised in the farming community of Germania, a German-immigrant enclave in west-central Texas. From an early age, he suffered from severe bouts of depression and anxiety. He attended school for six years. As a young adult, he demonstrated violent behavior and even attacked his mother. Ultimately, he was sent to a state-run psychiatric hospital, where he remained for three decades. Arning was diagnosed with dementia praecox (or premature dementia, a psychotic disorder). While he was in the hospital in 1964, at the age of 66, and after receiving some drawing materials, Arning began to make art. First, he filled several coloring books; then, he started producing his own vividly colored pictures of farm life, animals and geometric shapes. Arning used wax crayons and, later, oil pastels. As his images evolved, they reflected the inspiration he found in newspapers, advertisements, and magazine illustrations. Human figures also began to appear in his work during the latter part of his art making career. Arning left the hospital in 1973 after 64 years in institutions and moved in with his widowed sister. Shortly thereafter, he ceased making drawings after a ten-year period in which he had produced more than 2,000 works of art. ¹