Artists with ra create beauty amid pain

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Artists with rheumatoid arthritis create beauty amid pain

http://www.healthcentral.com/news/newsfulltext.cfm?ID=39941 & src=n1

August 18, 2000

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - World-renowned painters such as

Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Raoul Dufy produced major works of art while

suffering from the painful and crippling effects of rheumatoid arthritis

(RA), a researcher pointed out in a talk sponsored by the Arthritis

Foundation.

" Unless you look at Renoir's painting with X-rays and 3-dimensional

cuts, it's very hard to tell that there's any difference between the

work he completed before RA and the work he did after he got the

disease. It really illustrates the point that patients with RA can do

many things but they just need the time to do it, " said Dr. S.

Louie, a professor of medicine and the chief of rheumatology at

Harbor-University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center in

Torrance. He presented his remarks Friday at the Indiana Historical

Society in Indianapolis.

For over 20 years, Louis has been lecturing across the US about the

historical experiences of major artists--such as s,

Klee, Grandma Moses and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec--who continued to live

and work while suffering from RA or other diseases that affect bones and

joints.

RA is a chronic autoimmune disorder that occurs when the immune system

attacks tissues lining the joints, resulting in pain, inflammation,

deformity and, sometimes permanent, disability. The disease is estimated

to affect over 2 million Americans, 70% of whom are middle-aged women.

In an interview with Reuters Health, Louie noted that drugs introduced

in recent years can help control the disease and prevent the joint

deformity that occurs in later stages. RA patients such as Renoir

typically had to endure excruciating pain--making his achievements all

the more exemplary and remarkable, he said.

" Except to the refined eye, you really can't tell any differences in

Renoir's brushstroke and his work, and so the inspirational thing is

that he did all this despite the pain and the deformity--and that's

really an incredible story to portray, " he said.

Louie noted that in addition to the emotional support such stories can

give RA patients, there are now new drug options that far surpass the

treatment choices Renoir faced.