Categories: Lifestyle

British Architectural Genius Continues To Wow, Inspire with Art

British architectural artist Stephen Wiltshire (pictured) was recently profiled in a op-ed piece entitled, “Drawing What Our Mouths Cannot Say,” which speaks to the ways children use art to express their challenges, insecurities, and dreams.

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Wiltshire, who was born in London, England, in the early ’70s, is internationally known for his beautifully ornate renderings of the world’s most-beautiful cities.

Diagnosed with autism at 3 years old, Wiltshire wouldn’t speak until he was 5 years old and his condition was exacerbated by the untimely death of his father.

It was at London’s Queensmill School, though, that teachers would finally get him to speak, after observing both his skill and interest in drawing.

Wiltshire’s sister Annette explains, “They took away his pen and paper and tried to make him ask for them back. He was so frustrated – he needed them so badly that he was forced to say ‘pen’ and ‘paper.’ Those were his first words.”

And that would be the beginning of his long-life love of drawing, with his first commissioned piece being for Prime Minister Edward Heath of the Salisbury Cathedral.

Wiltshire has since published five books, with the most-recent one, “Floating Cities,” landing on the Sunday Times best-seller list.

New York

He is most-famous work, though, has come from his panoramic cityscapes, which customarily sell for six figures.

What makes Wiltshire’s work especially unique is that it is all re-created from memory.

For example, following a single helicopter ride over the city of Tokyo, Wiltshire created his longest panoramic drawing in May 2005.

Watch Wiltshire re-create Tokyo here:

Next came Rome, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Madrid, Dubai, Jerusalem, and London.

The city dearest to his heart, though, is New York; this particular offering featured New Jersey, Ellis Island, the Financial District, Brooklyn, and the Statue of Liberty.

It took him only five days to complete the work.

Watch Wiltshire re-create New York City here:

Wiltshire’s work is so precise that he even manages to accurately capture the details of windows and trees.

SEE ALSO: The Revolutionary Works of Congolese Artist Tshibumba Kanda-Matulu Displayed in London

Abena Agyeman-Fisher

Abena Agyeman-Fisher is the Editor-in-Chief of Face2Face Africa. Most recently, she worked for Interactive One as the Senior Editor of NewsOne, she worked for AOL as the News Programming Manager of Black Voices, which later became HuffPo Black Voices, and for the New York Times Company as an Associate Health Editor. Abena, a Spelman College graduate, has been published in Al Jazeera, the Daily Beast, New Jersey’s The Star-Ledger, the Grio, BlackVoices, West Orange Patch, About.com, the Source, Vibe, Vibe Vixen, Jane, and Upscale Magazines. She has interviewed top celebrities, icons, and politicians, such as First Lady Michelle Obama, Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, Civil Rights activist and diplomat Andrew Young, comedian Bill Cosby, Grammy Award-winning singer Jill Scott, actress and singer Queen Latifah, Olympic Gold winner Cullen Jones, international supermodel Alek Wek, and five-division world champion boxer Floyd Mayweather. Most recently, she served as the First Lady’s press reporter during President Barack Obama’s U.S.-Africa Summit, Young African Leaders Institute event, and the 2013 presidential trip to Senegal, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Tanzania. Abena is also a 2015 International Women's Media Foundation Africa Great Lakes Fellow, where she reported on women candidates and Chinese sweatshops in Tanzania for CNN and Refinery29.

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