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Edmund Thomas Clint (wikipedia.org)
35 points by g3mo on March 14, 2014 | hide | past | favorite | 15 comments


I'm not going to yell out "hoax", but I will agree with the skepticism.

Indian culture has a fascination with child prodigies, many of whom turn out to be much less than they were presented as. Ankit Fadia is perhaps the most well known example, although there are plenty of others in infosec, computer science and various other non-STEM fields.

In addition, all of the references in this article come from a single source: The Hindu. I am not aware of their legitimacy, although ostensibly they are controversial.


I don't know if Clint drew 25000 artworks in his lifetime (that looks astonishingly huge number), but he was indeed a prodigy well known in Kerala from a very small age (3 ish if I remember correctly)

A bit superlative (philosophical bent for a 4 year old!) but this video shows some work and photographs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoOPJ1w76I8


Of all the mainstream news papers in India, The Hindu is probably the most legitimate and least controversial.


This reminds me of the plot to a Mark Twain short story[1] about an artist that fakes his own death to profit from the posthumous increase in the value of his work. Been a while but I remember it being a a fun read.

[1]: Called "Is He Living or Is He Dead?" - http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3251/3251-h/3251-h.htm#link2H...


Clint's most well known painting : http://netindian.in/sites/default/files/20140108Clint1.jpg

Few others are put up on his rather unknown facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/EdmundThomasClint


I am amazed at a child painting 25,000 works. I am angered at a rural child dying of fucking kidney failure at seven.

He was younger than me, and damn it I am angry that we still have this shit going down.

Stuff it - lets do this (What can possibly go wrong)

https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_metcalfe_we_need_money_for...


Color me skeptical.


That is ~11 paintings per day, every single day. There is a girl, who at age 3, can solve a rubik's cube in a minute. I would say it is possible, if guided by parents, but at a cost of social and emotional development.


Assuming he started painting the day he was born.

There are child prodigies, but there are also people making stuff up for fun and profit.

But I'd still love to see a video of his process.


Even if you exclude the first year of his life, that wouldn't change the "~11 a day" estimate by much. It might up it to "~12" a day.


[deleted]


No, but it is hard to tell when did he start. If at age four, that would be still possible with 22 pictures, assuming most pictures are small.


How did he die?


Apparently he died of kidney failure in 1983. [1]

[1] http://web.archive.org/web/20101006064100/http://rd-india.co...


The wiki says kidney failure.


ah, somehow I missed that.




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