Accompanying a major exhibition at Philip Mould & Company, Without Hands:
The Art of Sarah Biffin presents the work of the remarkable 19th-century disabled
artist who has been largely overlooked by art historians. This book and exhibition
celebrate her art, life and legacy.
Sarah Biffin (1784–1850) came from humble origins yet rose to fame in the 19thcentury
as an exceptionally talented miniaturist. As a working-class, disabled female
artist, her artworks – many proudly signed “without hands” – are a testament to her
talent and life-long determination. Despite her prolific artistic output, Biffin’s life and
work has been largely overlooked by art historians – until now.
Sarah Biffin was born with the condition ‘phocomelia’, described on her baptism
record as ‘born without arms and legs’. She spent her childhood in her family home
where she learnt to sew and write. Biffin was later contracted to Mr Dukes, who ran a
travelling sideshow, where Biffin would write and paint in front of an audience. The
crowds who turned up left with a sample of her writing included in the cost of their
ticket.
In her mid-twenties she began formal tuition with a miniature painter, William
Marshall Craig, and from 1816 she set herself up as an independent artist. Biffin
travelled extensively, exhibiting her artwork and taking commissions all over the
country, before finally settling in Liverpool. Throughout her long and successful
career, she took commissions from nobility and royalty, and recorded her own
likeness across the years through exquisitely detailed self-portraits.
Working closely with the project’s advisor – artist Alison Lapper MBE (born with
the same condition as Sarah Biffin 180 years later) – and consultant and contributor
– Professor Essaka Joshua (specialist in Disability Studies at the University of Notre
Dame, Indiana) – this publication and exhibition seek to celebrate Biffin as a disabled
artist who challenged contemporary attitudes to disability. It is fully illustrated and
includes original research.