Perley Meyer Wentworth
(1893–1985)
BornSalem, Massachusetts, United States
ActiveSan Francisco, California, United States
DiedSan Diego, California, United States
BiographyBiblical themes take on an otherworldly perspective in Perley Meyer Wentworth’s mystical art. His mixed-media drawings combine undulating stone structures and orderly landscapes dotted with flowers, accompanied by brief annotations referencing the sky. By the Old Mill Temple in Bethsaida by the Sea of Galilee (1950s) has the note “Objects from Sun Planet” over its central temple. Other works are less grounded in earthly reality, as planetary bodies and celestial shapes express a cosmic view of Christianity. Wentworth, who is also known as P. M. Wentworth and Perley M. Wentworth, used a technique involving purposefully erasing and rubbing parts of his works to mix and erode colors, giving the surfaces a delicate texture. His compositions have a free-form feel, as if he were allowing a vision to unfold as he sketched outlines of castles, churches, and galactic forms in graphite that he enhanced with crayon, gouache, charcoal, and watercolor. On some pieces, he signed “imagination,” as if nodding to the fantastic qualities of these enigmatic scenes.Biographical details on Wentworth are scarce, with one of the main references being his listing in the Oakland, California, telephone directory between 1955 and 1959. It’s believed that his around forty known works date from the late 1930s to the late 1950s. Some sources have suggested that he worked as a night watchman at a naval station and that his many hours gazing at the star-filled sky inspired the celestial themes of his art. Times of day are inscribed on a number of his works, possibly indicating when he made them or the moments in which he had observed the heavens. It’s unknown if he shared his work with anyone in his lifetime.
Wentworth’s works were acquired by the artist and psychology professor Tarmo Pasto, who also promoted the art of Martín Ramírez while he was employed at DeWitt State Hospital in Auburn, California. (Wentworth may have been a patient at DeWitt State Hospital.) His art was brought to further attention in the 1970s by the artist Jim Nutt and the Phyllis Kind Gallery in Chicago. He was subsequently included in several major exhibitions on self-taught art, including Transmitters: The Isolate Artists in America, at the Philadelphia College of Art in 1981, and Parallel Visions: Modern Artists and Outsider Art, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1992.
Allison C. Meier, 2025
Text written as part of “Rethinking Biography,” an initiative supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).