Power of pen reveals truths
By Wendy soderburg
Today Staff writer
It’s not what they wrote, but how they wrote it that gives us a picture of what’s inside the minds of O.J. Simpson; James Earl Ray, the confessed killer of Martin Luther King Jr.; and Albert DeSalvo, better known as the Boston Strangler.
That’s the premise behind the exhibit, “Handwriting Tells the Truth: An Exhibit on Graphology,” currently on display in the Rotunda of the Powell Library Building. On view through Feb. 28 are writing samples from the famous and infamous, ranging from letters by Johann Sebastian Bach to a reprint of the suicide note of Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain, who suffered from depression.
The exhibit explores the study of handwriting as an expression of the writer’s character. It features books and handwriting dating from the mid-1700s to the present, and also includes writing samples of the mentally ill (schizophrenics, psychotics) and the criminal (embezzlers, child molesters, murderers).
“Graphology is an empirical science, and there have been experiments conducted as early as the 1800s,” said graphologist Susanne Shapiro, who curated the exhibit with the help of Associate Librarian Cathy Brown in the College Library. “To be a good graphologist, you have to know your theory and know what to look for. There are about 300 characteristics [of handwriting]. You have to find a way of putting the characteristics together to formulate a profile.”
It’s the signatures of the famous that will draw most people’s attention. For example, two different signatures from Bach show strong fluctuations in his mood. His signature after completing a cantata is strong, fluid and evenly spaced. But in a 1738 letter to a Frau Klemm, his writing is dark and blotchy, with a downward tilt. “The blotchiness could have been caused by the pen, but Bach might also have been unhappy with Frau Klemm,” Shapiro remarked.
There are writing samples from Harry S. Truman that show “a highly intelligent man,” according to Shapiro. “He was a sequential thinker with a one-track mind. The formation of his t’s points to enormous tenacity, strength and determination.” Of George Gershwin’s writing, she said, “There is humor and looseness in his script and, as is often the case, his profession shows. How? Look at the flattened G clef with which he underlines his name!”
Most of the items on display are from Shapiro’s private collection, which she inherited from Gottfried Bloch, 91, a psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor who managed to save part of his library — and that of his colleague, Willy Schoenfeld, who was killed in Auschwitz — by sending the collections abroad.
Shapiro, a musician by trade (harpsichord and fortepiano), has found herself devoting more time to graphology, teaching private classes and sometimes serving as an expert witness in court cases involving forged wills. She will be in the Rotunda today and on Feb. 23-24 at 3 p.m. to answer questions and to analyze visitors’ handwriting samples.
For more about graphology, visit Shapiro’s Web site at www.thewritetruth.com. |
