Enigmatic Postcard, "Eene Aangezigtspyn-Phantasie van Alexander V.H.," 19th Century

Postcard purchased from the Museum Dr. Guislain giftshop, caption reads "C.C.A. Last - Eene Aangezigtspyn-Phantasie van Alexander V.H., Lithogravure, 19de eeuw." Was unable to find out any additional information; if anyone knows anything about this image or its maker, please let Morbid Anatomy know.

Musée Dupuytren, Paris, France

The Musée Dupuytren is a medical museum in Paris, France. It was established in 1835 and features an amazing collection of waxes and teratological specimens, all with beautiful antique labels. Their website appears to be down at the moment, but you can find out more about the museum here. Also, I uploaded a really poor-quality video of a walk through an assortment of the pathological waxes here and an overview of the pathological specimens here.

All these photo (and video) were taken on a visit back in 2003.

Vintage Mortician Photos?

Morbid Anatomy reader Aeron Alfrey sent along these wonderful photographs, which he described as "Vintage Mortician Photos." Looking at the photos, it seems to me that they are probably medical students with their cadavers rather than morticians in training, due to the level of dissection we see in the images. Nevertheless, they are lovely. He originally found them here.

Thanks, Aeron!

Nicolas Poussin painting a model for Anatomical Venuses?

A report from the field, compliments of my good friend Evan, co-proprietor of Obscura Antiques and Oddities:

I was taking in the wonderful "Poussin and Nature: Arcadian Visions," exhibition currently up at the Metropolitan Museum, when I was struck by his famous “Venus (or a Nymph) Spied On by Satyrs” [above, top]. The falling of the drapery, the hand gesture, and the blatantly revelatory pose - all very, very reminiscent of the famous wax Venus models found at La Specola, the Jospehinum [above, bottom], and beyond.

No one will know exactly what Clemente Susini was thinking when he modeled his masterpiece, but I'd like to think that he was consciously or unconsciously referencing Poussin. The viewer, whether physician, student or casual admirer, becomes the Satyr, but our gaze is no longer lascivious or threatening; we are now dispassionately clinical. Just one difference, perhaps, between art and science.

It really is the most striking resemblance.

Images shown for your consideration and comparison:

Top: Nicolas Poussin, “Venus (or a Nymph) Spied On by Satyrs,"oil on canvas, circa 1627

Bottom: "Anatomical Venus," Wax model with human hair in rosewood and Venetian glass case; Workshop of Clemente Susini of Florence, 1781-1786, held by The Josephinum, Vienna, Austria

18th Century Italian Anatomical Waxworks in 3D, on Flickr!

Grab your red/blue 3D glasses and head over to Flickr to check out a few of master wax-worker Clemente Susini's (1757-1814) anatomical waxes in 3D (!!!), compliments of Stanford Medicine's newly released series of anaglyphs. Robert Chase, MD, along with a team of many others, have produced 3D stereo photos of Susini waxes held at the Museo delle Cere Anatomiche Luigi Cattaneo and made 6 of them available for public perusal on their Flickr page. This is a curious development; it adds to Stanford Medical School's already rich and idiosyncratic Flickr collection, and suggests to me that they might be trying to produce a series of "classic 3D anatomy" products, perhaps to compete with the virtual 3D anatomy software packages dominating the contemporary educational market.

Theses 6 images, taken in 2007, mark the launch of a larger program (that will include, one supposes, many more images to be made available, and at a cost) and will be launched later this year. The purported goal of the project is to"bring these waxworks to a larger audience that includes medical students and art enthusiasts alike."

Now, I happen to have some 3D glasses and was unable to get much effect from them. Maybe the form of their next release will intensify the effect? Or maybe my glasses were defective? So far, however, I, for one, prefer the waxworks in good, old fashioned 2-D!

Check out all 6 images on Flickr Page. Find out more about the project here.

Arcane Media Night at Proteus Gowanus, Brooklyn, New York

I am organizing (curating and introducing) an afternoon of Arcane Media at my favorite gallery, Proteus Gowanus, on Sunday, May 18th [invitation above]. All New York based Morbid Anatomy readers are formally invited. Also, I would like to organize a second presentation sometime soon, so if anyone has some arcane media--magic lantern slides, phantasmagoria, etc.-- they would like to present, or knows someone who might, please let me know!

If you are interested in attending, I recommend that you RSVP quickly--Time Out New York is going to be listing the event, so it might sell out.

RSVP by Email at info@proteusgowanus.com or phone: 718-243-1572. More information on the Proteus Gowanus website, here; Also, feel free to contact me with any questions.

Hope to see you there!

Details, per the Proteus Gowanus website:

Sunday, May 18th, 3 p.m. $5 per person.

An afternoon of magic lantern slides and arcane media coordinated by various “Lanternists,” including:

Zoe Beloff is a media artist who works with film, stereoscopic projection performance, interactive media and installation. She will introduce and demonstrate her "Nic Projector."

James Walsh lives in Brooklyn, works mainly in video and artist's books, and has a keen interest in natural history. He will present a video of lantern slides images from the archives of the American Museum of Natural History. The lantern slides document the later years of the American naturalist and nature essayist John Burroughs (1837-1921), who was influential in the beginnings of the conservation movement and was friends with Walt Whitman, Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and other leading writers and industrialists of his day. Through the medium of video these images are brought to life and set to a soundtrack inspired by his writings, creating an intimate portrait of this enigmatic, contradictory, and once-popular figure.

g. f. Newland is a Brooklyn based animator and musician. He is fond of his old stuff and likes to show it to people when they will let him. He will be showing antique magic lantern slides, some of them animated. 

R. Munn and Sara Cook A PRESENTATION OF STEREOSCOPIC IMAGES OF WORLD WAR 1
A selection of rare glass plate three dimensional slides will be presented utilizing polarized projection. Over 90 years old, these stereo photographs display an uncompromising view of WW1. With electronic Theremin accompaniment and 3D glasses provided for the audience.

Joanna Ebenstein is a Brooklyn based graphic artist and photographer. Much of her work is about fascination with antique forms. She organized this night so that she could finally see magic lantern slides projected; it took on a life of its own. She is the curator of the event, and will give a brief introduction.

"Anatomical Theatre" Website Launch!

Finally, after many months, I am launching a somewhat finalized draft of the Anatomical Theatre website. Herein you will find an a expanded version of the physical exhibition, which features 64 photographs (the website features nearly 100!) of medical museum artifacts held in great collections in Europe and the United States. The artifacts range from preserved human remains to models made from ivory, wax, and papier mâché, with provenances spanning from the 16th to the 20th centuries. As much information as possible is coupled with each image. Visit the website to learn more about this project, find information about featured museums, and view the photographs.

Anatomical Theatre: Depictions of the Body, Disease, and Death in Medical Museums of the Western World is a travelling exhibition; next location to be announced.

Note: I attempted to include as much factual data as possible about the artifacts photographed. Often, I was the only one checking facts. if anyone comes across any mistakes please drop me a line and let me know.

All images above from the Anatomical Theatre website; visit the website to find out more information about each piece.

Padre Pio's Corpse Exhumed, Displayed in Glass Coffin after 40 Years in the Grave. Really.

Its not everyday that one gets news of an exhumed corpse being exhibited to hordes of tourists in a glass coffin; today, just such news came my way.

Yesterday, the corpse of Padre Pio was put on display in an elaborate glass-and-marble coffin after his body was removed from the vault in which had resided for 40 (!!!) years after his death at 81 years of age. His body was too far decayed, it is reported, to be exhibited without enhancement; his head is covered with a life-like silicon mask prepared by the company that supplies figures for Madame Tussauds; his true fingers are visible, blackened and half-hidden by half gloves. Reportedly, his hands do not bear the stigmata they often did in life.

He was exhumed, reports The Independent, "so the condition of the body could be ascertained before being consigned to its permanent home in a crypt under the town's vast modern church." (The report continues: "Officials who examined the corpse said it was in 'fair condition', apart from the head, much of which had been reduced to bare bone. A team of medical scientists and biochemists has been working since then to restore the corpse to a presentable condition.")

Padre Pio was an interesting and complex figure; In his time, he had a cult-like following that revered him as a saint, while others accused him of being a fake, even going so far as to accuse him of using carbolic acid to create the stigmata he famously displayed on his hands and feet. Pope John Paul II canonized him into sainthood in 2002.

The Los Angeles Times has a great article on this, from which this video (and much of the information in this post) is drawn; read it here.

Yet MORE on Japanese Anatomical Charts!

Yes, yet MORE on the Japanese Anatomical Charts discussed in two recent posts (here and here). Now we have a translation! The folks at Pink Tentacle have written a full story on these charts, complete with names, dates, and history. They have even thrown in some newly reassembled images (see above).

We discover that these are called the Kaibo Zonshinzu Anatomy Scrolls (1819) and were painted by Kyoto-area physician Yasukazu Minagaki (1784-1825) under the tutelage of Dutch anatomist Philip von Siebold, the first European to teach Western medicine in Japan. We also learn that they are regarded as the finest collection of Japanese early 19th-century anatomical drawings, and that the subjects dissected and portrayed were "heinous criminals executed by decapitation."

So pleased that a translator was able to translate this page and answer so many of my questions. Check out the full story here. And see the original collection here.

Japanese Anatomical Charts Expanded

The fine folks at Ectoplasmosis have taken the trouble of assembling some of those Japanese anatomical charts I posted about yesterday into their intended scroll-like continuum. Not as surreal, but lovely none-the-less. Check out their some of their handiwork above. See their post here.

The Bassett Stereoscopic Dissection Collection in the New York Times!

In the science section of today's New York Times, there is an article about the amazing Bassett Stereoscopic Dissection Collection (as discussed in greater detail in a previous Morbid Anatomy Post.) The project was a collaboration between William Gruber, the inventor of the View-Master, and Dr. David L. Bassett of Stanford University. The product: the 25-volume “Stereoscopic Atlas of Human Anatomy” released in 1962 consisting of thousands of images illustrating human anatomy (see above) on hundreds of View-Master reels.

The article touches on the history of the project, the partnership between Bassett and Gruber, and how the collection was received when it was released. It goes on to detail Stanford University's plans to digitize the collection and charge access to it; those with 3d glasses will be able to view them on their computer in their original 3-dimensional glory.

Check out the full article here; check out the slide show here. And click here to see the Flickr page launched by Stanford to showcase the images.

Thanks so much to Pam of Phantasmaphile for sending this my way.

Japanese Anatomical Charts

Thanks to Peacay of Bibliodyssey for sending me the link to these surreally fascinating (and mysterious, as I understand no Japanese) Japanese Anatomical Charts. You can peruse them all (this is just a small sampling) here.

Translation of Mysterious "Panoptikon" Document

Thanks to Sebastian Keller for kindly translating the Mysterious Panoptikon Document." There is much great information to be found here, and a wonderful collection of quotations. Here is a sample:

“I entered a display of waxworks; the entourage of the ruler looked very slutty and neglected. It was a terrible loneliness and I hastened through to a closed room with the collection of anatomy on display. There almost any part of the human body was to be found on display, made of wax, most of them in sick, terrible states, a really strange assembly of human conditions. A big part of that assembly was constituted of a long row of glasses which contained all the stages of a foetuses growth. Those weren't wax, but real beings and they were sitting in the alcohol like philosophers. Their thoughtfulness was all the more clear as those guys should have been the youth of that assembly. But suddenly in the hut right next to that there was loud music and drums an the wall shuddered and all the quiet attention vanished. Those little beings started to shiver and dance in a wild polca and soon there was anarchy, so I don't believe that this assembly ended with an address.” (Gottfried Keller, dream diary, S.93f)...

Read the entire translation (and add your own comments) here; compare it against Stefan Nagel's orginal "Schaubuden - Geschichte und Erscheinungsformen" here. You can find additional images here.

Pictured above: Page 24 from chapter 1 "Panoptikum, Kuriosa" of l "Schaubuden - Geschichte und Erscheinungsformen."

Florentine Anatomical Venus in Rare American Appearance!

The Getty Villa in Malibu, California has an interesting show up called "The Color of Life: Polychromy in Sculpture from Antiquity to the Present." The exhibition showcases the many ways artists have used color in figural sculpture for centuries, and, to my excitement, includes an actual Anatomical Venus from the famed La Specola collection in Florence!

Anatomical Venuses are life-sized wax anatomical models of idealized women, extremely realistic in appearance and often adorned with real hair and ornamental jewelry. These figures consist of removable parts that can be "dissected" to demonstrate anatomy-- a breast plate is lifted to reveal the inner workings of the mysterious female body, often with a fetus to be found nestling in the womb (see before and after above). This was a way to share anatomical discovery with a larger audience without the need for an actual human dissection.

Anatomical Venuses are probably the most historically popular form of anatomical models; in the 19th-Century, they were the centerpiece of museums and itinerant shows of all kinds, and possessed great power to draw crowds. The 18th-Century Florentine Venuses are the best remembered today, in no small part due to Taschen's Encyclopaedia Anatomica,and are considered, by some, to be the finest examples of Anatomical Venuses known to exist.

This Anatomical Venus featured in the Getty show, completed in 1782 by Clemente Susini and his workshop, is truly a masterwork of the genre, and outshines the many copies held by medical museums throughout Europe who, impressed by the veracity and workmanship of the Florentine Venuses, commissioned their own from Susini's workshop. For example, the core of the collection of the Viennese Josephinum Museum consists of 1192 models commissioned by Emperor Joseph from the Susini workshop in 1784 for the training of his military doctors. As a body of work they are interesting, but somehow the models in this collection pale in comparison to the La Specola models. The workmanship is a bit shoddier, the visages a bit less alluring.

The Anatomical Venus exhibited in the Getty exhibition is one of the finest, and almost never leaves her home in Florence--she has only been transported twice in her long history, and even has a specially-built traveling case to protect her delicate wax body. This means that, sadly, you will not see her in her original setting--an elegant rosewood and Venetian glass case-- but the relative accessibility of the piece (i.e. in the United States) should make up for this lack.

It is really great to see anatomical models being seriously approached as artwork in an exhibition of this sort; I consider it a bold move on the part of the curators, and cannot help wondering what strings the curators had to pull in order to acquire one of these rare and fragile Venuses on loan. It is also nice to see that, in reviews of the show, the Venus seems to be a real standout. This supports my belief that, if more people knew of these Venuses and other anatomical models, they would be seen as intriguing artworks and cultural documents, worthy of a greater amount of study as well as inclusion in the medical art canon.

From the UCLA paper The Daily Bruin:

The two most impressive pieces of the whole exhibition, which may please even marble lovers, both shock and fascinate at the same time. One of them is an 18th-century wax model of a nude life-size woman called the “Anatomical Venus,” which shows the multicolored exterior and interior of a female body with an almost uncanny precision.

And from the LA Times review of the show:

The strangest, without a doubt, is an 18th century wax figure known as the "Anatomical Venus": a comely young woman, life-sized and nude, lying prostrate on a pink silk cushion in what looks to be a state of sensual rapture, her torso flayed and all her glistening organs -- including a womb containing a tiny fetus -- revealed. Her long brown hair is real, her eyes are open and unfocused, and the cloth of her pillow is crumpled -- she might as well be writhing. The product of one sculptor's clearly intimate experience with cadavers, she suggests an Enlightenment-era St. Teresa ravished by communion with the invisible forces of science.

To learn more about the show, which runs until June 23 of this year, visit the exhibition website, complete with gallery slideshow. Better yet, visit the show in person if you are able. This might be your only chance EVER to see an Anatomical Venus of this quality without traveling to Florence. To see more images of Anatomical Venuses and other anatomical models, see the Anatomical Theatre Gallery. To learn more about medical models, see Susan Lamb's An Analysis of Anatomy Models and A. W. Bates' abstract for Anatomical Venuses: The Aesthetics of Anatomical Modeling in 18th- and 19th-Century Europe. You can also see the Venus in all states of metaphorical undress in Taschen's Encyclopaedia Anatomica.

Thanks to the Getty for supplying the above images and answering my barrage of questions. Photographs of the Anatomical Venus by Saulo Bambi, Museo di Storia Naturale "La Specola"; Florence, Italy

And if any Morbid Anatomy readers are in the Los Angeles area and could take a photo of the model in context of the show and send me a copy, I'd very much appreciate it.

"The Spitzner Museum's Wax Woman" Comicbook!

Morbid Anatomy reader Heather Whiteside alerted me to the existence of a comic book called "The Spitzner Museum's Wax Woman," by Francoise Riviere and Andreas Martens. She found out about it in the 2001 "Taboo" Issue of Heavy Metal Magazine.

I just purchased a copy of the magazine, but I am dying to find a copy of the original comic book. If anyone has any leads on where to find one and could point me in the right direction, I would be most grateful. Further, the kind folks at Kikkerland Design have offered to help me on my quest, by donating an Anatomical Eye 3-D Puzzle to any person who can help me acquire a copy.

Image from Voir - La Collection Spitzner, eds. Phillipe Blon and Stephen Bann, 1998; visit the Morbid Anatomy Library to see more images from the book. For more on the Spitzner waxes, check see recent Morbid Anatomy posts Musée de la Médecine and Surrealism and Anatomical Waxes.

More images from Mysterious German Manuscript

Won't some kind soul please translate Stefan Nagel's online illustrated manuscript "Schaubuden: Geschichte und Erscheinungsformen" for me? The images are so good, I am dying to know the context.

For more on Nagel's manuscript, see this recent post. View the images in context here. See more images from the document in the Morbid Anatomy Library.

Richard Russell's Anatomical Collage Work, 20th C

I am not usually a big fan of collage, but I find myself drawn to the work of Atlanta based artist Richard Russell, and not just because of the use of anatomical ephemera in his works.

You can see more of his work on his online portfolio and Flickr page.

Thanks to Street Anatomy for bringing Russell's work to my attention.

Professor Palmer's "Office" (Medicine Stage Show), c. 1860

Just got the book A Morning's Work: Medical Photographs from the Burns Archive & Collection, 1843-1939 (published by Twin Palms Publishers in the mail yesterday. The book seems to comprise a sample of Dr. Stanley Burns' broad and vast collection of photographs related to death, the body, and medicine. Have not had the time to peruse it properly, but, at a glance, it looks amazing. Here is one of my favorite images thus far.

Anatomie Modèle Femme (1937)

From the wonderful ephemera collection showcased on the Agence Eureka blog.

Anatomical Flipbook, 1939

I have long been a fan of the Agence Eureka blog; yesterday I made the leap to the associated Flickr page, which is a treasure trove of paper ephemera.The above images are from a Flickr set entitled "Anatomie Femme 1939;" check out the complete set here.