Today we hosted another great group of students from the Biomedical Art program of the Cleveland Institute of Art. Prof. Tom Nowacki brought his medical illustration class to the Dittrick once again to draw surgical instruments from our collections. The sampling varied from O'Dwyer intubation sets to Tarnier's cephalotribe to Bigelow's lithotrite. The assignment revolved around the challenge of showing how these things worked, mechanically, and how they related to the body parts and tissue.
See some of the projects from last year. I'll post those from the 2011 class when they're done in a week or so.
A joint exhibition by the Dittrick and Mütter museums to be held at the Reinberger Galleries of the Cleveland Institute of Art, November 5, 2010 – January 2, 2011
Opening and reception November 5.Anatomica Aesthetica brings together art and medicine, as found in the collections of the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia and the Dittrick Medical History Center in Cleveland.
From the Mütter comes an exhibit curated by Laura Lindgren (Blast Books) showcasing more than a decade of work by contemporary fine-art photographers. This exhibition includes images from the museum’s renowned historical photography collection alongside contemporary images that extend the boundaries of traditional photographic subject matter. Guest curator Laura Lindgren brings together aesthetically diverse photographers inclu ding Shelby Lee Adams, Max Aguilera-Hellweg, Gwen Akin andAllan Ludwig, Candace diCarlo, Dale Gunnoe, Steven Katzman, Mark Kessell, Scott Lindgren, Olivia Parker, Rosamond Purcell, Richard Ross, Ariel Ruizi Altaba, Harvey Stein, Arne Svenson, William Wegman, and Joel-Peter Witkin.
From the Dittrick comes a display of art from the H. F. Aitken collection comprising some 2000+ sketches, drawings, paintings, prints, and books from the estate of Hamlet Frederick Aitken (1872 - 1939), an artist and medical illustrator from Massachusetts. The Aitken collection reveals the professional emergence of biomedical illustration just as surgery and medicine were put on a new scientific basis around 1900 in medical centers such as Baltimore, Boston, and Cleveland. During his career, Aitken worked with leading figures of American surgery and anatomy, including Harvey Cushing, Frank H. Lahey, and John Collins Warren, as well as the leading medical illustrator Max Brödel at Johns Hopkins University.
Through the display of a selection of Aitken’s artwork, curated by CIA student Maggie Pierce, we are able to witness the career of a medical artist in unique detail, and to better understand the emergence of American medical illustration in this pivotal period. Guest curator Laura Lindgren's lecture will be followed by a public opening and reception: Friday, Nov. 5 from 6 PM to 8 PM .Free and open to the public. Handicap access available.
Contact the gallery for more information on its public programs. http://www.cia.edu/reinberger_galleries/
In December the H. F. Aitken collection of biomedical art came to the Dittrick and we are in the midst of cataloging and researching this notable body of medical art. The Aitken collection comprises some 2000+ sketches, drawings, paintings, prints, and books from the estate of Hamlet Frederick Aitken (1872 - 1939), an artist and medical illustrator from Massachusetts.
Aitken’s artwork had been packed away in two steamer trunks after his death and consigned to the attic at the family home in Lexington, Massachusetts.John Gilman, now retired from the publishing field, unearthed his grandfather’s material in 2004 and at once appreciated its importance.Aitken collaborated with distinguished surgeons, including Harvey Cushing, and taught medical illustration at Harvard. When John called in Spring 2008 to inquire if the Dittrick might be interested in the Aitken collection, we responded with an enthusiastic Yes!
Needless to say, we are thrilled with this acquisition and look forward to sharing the Aitken collection in exhibitions, web-based presentations, and research projects that will bring the Dittrick and the CIA Biomedical art program into closer collaboration.Maggie Pierce, a CIA student intern, is seen here working with H. F. Aitken drawings.Maggie will be with us through the summer as an intern helping to put the collection in good order.
