The Silent Weaver: The Extraordinary Life and Work of Angus MacPhee

Description

Preface -- 1. The horse soldiers -- 2. Tir a' Mhurain -- 3. The Rocky Hill of the Bird -- 4. Self-medicating -- 5. A rare state of purity -- 6. The reluctant exhibitor -- 7. Another age.;"In September 1939, a group of horsemen in battledress cantered down a broad, grassy plain on South Uist. The young men of the Western Isles were going to war again. Among their number was a tall, shy 24-year-old called Angus MacPhee. Before the fighting was done Angus returned. War had broken him, and he retreated into a silent, private world, impenetrable to those around him. During the following fifty years at Craig Dunain Hospital in Inverness, 'the quiet big man' spent his time creating a huge number of objects - including clothes, footwaer, horses' bridles, caps and hats - out of woven grass, sheep's wool, meadow flowers and beech leaves. He then burned them or let thyem decay. Only when an art therapist discovered Angus MacPhee's ... creations were some of them preserved for posterity. ..."--Back cover.