Essays for Richard EllmannEllmann's sensitivity to what it meant to be an artist shaped his work from the outset: "The life of an artist differs from the lives of other persons in that its events are becoming artistic sources even as they command his present attention. Instead of allowing each day, pushed back by the next, to lapse into imprecise memory, he shapes again the experiences which have shaped him." Richard Ellmann died in 1987. His life and work have touched the