Arnulf Erich Stegmann - a polio victim who grew up without the use of his arms - built a highly successful career in Germany by painting with a mouth-held brush. He believed that painters with similar challenges could form a co-operative and support themselves through their artistic efforts.
Nerano
Mouth-painted by Erich Stegmann
Stegmann travelled the world to seek out fellow ‘handless’ artists to join him in his dream to establish an organisation that would give them a sense of purpose and independence by marketing their work in the form of greeting cards, calendars, prints and illustrated books.
Stegmann never wanted the association to be regarded as a charity, even though many of its members were in wheelchairs or hospital beds. He equated ‘charity’ with ‘pity’, and preferred instead to use ‘partnership’ to describe the association. The association has never proclaimed itself as a charity and does not qualify for charitable assistance.
From the small group Stegmann gathered for the inaugural meeting of the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists in Liechtenstein, the MFPA has grown to become a worldwide art movement, with thousands of members in seventy-four countries today. Many have achieved international recognition through work produced with brushes held in their mouth or between their toes.
The purpose of IMFPA is to:
- Make contact with people who are either artists who have lost the use of their hands and/or legs through accident or illness and who paint with the brush held in the mouth or between the toes; or disabled people wish to learn to paint and support themselves through the sale of their work.
- Take care of its artists’ interests by helping them to sell their work, primarily in the form of reproductions as greetings cards, calendars and other artwork.
- Publish material which communicates and supports the purpose of the organisation.
- Help disabled artists to attain self-respect, creative fulfilment and financial security.
- Create a countrywide marketing network to make MFPA products easily available to people.
- Make the people of India aware about these artists who earn their livelihood through art despite their disabilities.