James Castle (1899 - 1977), an American self-taught artist, was born deaf and received very little formal education. He appears to have refused to learn to speak, sign, read, or write, and he left his native state of Idaho only once. Castle was deeply aware of his surroundings and possessed a vivid imagination; these qualities, as well as his acute visual sense and manual inventiveness led to a remarkable body of work made from everyday materials gathered in his home in Garden Valley, where he lived with his parents, brothers and sisters. Castle's art includes drawings and colour wash paintings, cardboard and paper constructions, handmade books, and word, sign, and symbol pieces.

As a child Castle devised his favourite method of working, whereby he mixed stove soot with spit, applying the resulting 'ink' with sticks and wads of cotton to found materials such as discarded paper and packaging materials. Many of these drawings are truly remarkable in their directness and sensitivity.

Castle's art reflects a search for meaning and identity in a quiet rural world that he may often have found difficult to understand. When visitors came to the family farm, Castle sometimes used to approach and show them his latest drawings; if they didn't respond sympathetically he would turn on his heel and withdraw. To Castle, it seems, his drawings were a way of making sense of life; just as importantly, he wished, much of the time, to share his perceptions with those around him.

A retrospective of the work of James Castle, organised by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, is currently being shown at the Art Institute of Chicago.

A new publication, including an essay by Joseph Grigely, accompanies this exhibition.

The Douglas Hyde Gallery warmly thanks Jacqueline Crist, of the J Crist Gallery, Boise, Idaho, for her help and support of the exhibition. It would not have been realised without her.