Category Archives: Anatomy

Loving the way 23 year-old Swedish artist, Judit Fritz, uses color, texture, and splattering to bring what would be normal female figure studies to life.

Judit says of her inspirations:

Living in Sweden, life tend to be somewhat grey since the sun only shine on all of us lovers for a short few month every year. I do not support this, so I spread a plague of colours in an attempt to lighten things up. Lighten myself up…

She’s just starting out in her artistic career, and already has an intriguing style and colorful outlook on life, down.

View more of Judit’s work on her portfolio site, juditfritz.n.nu.

These clever advertisements were created by Y&R for Penguin audio books.

[via AdsOfTheWorld]

PANDA BEAR “Surfer’s Hymn” from m ss ng p eces on Vimeo.

This music video by m ss ng p eces for the band Panda Bear is amazing. I LOVE the old black and white film feel, nice and grainy. The hand painted skeleton costumes have great texture and whatever they did, black light or just extreme color correction, to get the bones to glow looks awesome. As stated on the Vimeo page, this video is a tribute to surfers who have been taken by the sea, which only makes the video that much more nostalgic feeling and beautiful. Major props! Be sure to watch it all the way through, I assure you it’s worth it.

[via thefoxisblack]

Hi All! Next Tuesday, July 5th, I will be giving a lecture at London's Science Museum in the museum's lecture theatre. The lecture if free and open to the public.

Full details follow; If you are free and in the neighborhood, why not stop by?

From Votives to Venuses: A Brief History of the Human Anatomical Model
An Illustrated Lecture by Joanna Ebenstein of The Morbid Anatomy Library
Date: 5th July
Time: 4 PM - 5 PM
The Science Museum’s Lecture Theatre
Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD (Map here)
Admission: Free and open to the public

In the 1690s, surgeon Guillaume Desnoues commissioned wax-worker Gaetano Zumbo to create a life-sized wax copy of one of his most important--and sadly deteriorating--human dissections. This partnership launched a long tradition of collaboration between artists and medical practitioners in the creation of extraordinary and uncannily lifelike anatomical models intended to preserve important anatomical preparations in perpetuity and to instruct and incite wonder in medical students and laypersons alike. Today, join artist and independent researcher Joanna Ebenstein for a lavishly illustrated walk through the world of these fascinating artifacts that are equal parts art and science and which flicker enticingly on the edges of relic and specimen, mysticism and medicine, life and death. This talk will discuss the histories of these objects and their makers as well as their uses and contexts of display; introduce you to many of the amazing museums that house these artifacts; and consider the ways in which these objects relate to a long tradition of religious, allegorical, and artistic approaches to mortality, supplication, and the quest for bodily immortalization.

To download a PDF with more on this and other associated talks, click here. You can find out more about The Science Museum by clicking here. For more information, please contact Selina Pang, Curatorial Coordinator at CuratorialServices@sciencemuseum.org.uk.

Image: "The Slashed Beauty," full-length anatomical model in the Josephinum Collection, Vienna, Austria; Wax model with human hair in rosewood and Venetian glass case; Workshop of Clemente Susini of Florence, 1781-1786 Photographed by Joanna Ebenstein

Anyone fancy a chartered bus trip to view the legendary Cushing Collection (pictured above), an underground crypt, and a couple of libraries thrown in for good measure? Yeah; me too! Hope very much to see you there.

FIELD TRIP: Day of Brains in Jars, Old Libraries, and Underground Crypts in New Haven, Connecticut
A chartered bus field trip to New Haven, Connecticut with guided tours of The Cushing Brain Collection, The Institute Library, and The Center Church Crypt and an unguided visit to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Date: Saturday, July 16th
Time: 10:00 AM- 7 PM
Admission: $60
Presented by Morbid Anatomy
*** 28 Person Limit; MUST RSVP to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com

On Saturday, July 16th join Observatory and Morbid Anatomy for a special field trip to New Haven, Connecticut. Our first stop will be the amazing Cushing Collection, with its over 500 human brains in glass jars and haunting pre- and post-operative photographs amassed by "father of modern neurosurgery" Dr. Harvey Cushing. We will be introduced to this collection-- newly open to the public--via a guided tour by Terry Dagradi, curator of the collection. Our next stop will be the historic and lovely Institute Library (founded 1826), Connecticut's oldest living independent literary institution and one of the last remaining membership libraries in North America, where director Will Baker will give us a tour followed by an opportunity for unguided exploration and lunch. Next, we will be treated to a special after-hours tour of the Center Church Crypt, an underground cemetery featuring 137 grave stones of New Haven's founders and earliest citizens going back to 1687. Our final stop will be an unguided visit to the incredible Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library before hopping on the bus for our return home.

Trip Details: The $60 event cost of this event includes round trip transportation on a special chartered bus from Observatory to New Haven and back again as well as tour costs. Please bring your lunch, which we will have an opportunity to eat at our second stop. The bus will pick up and drop off in front of the 543 Union Street (at Nevins Street) entrance to Observatory. Pick up is 10:00 AM sharp and drop off approximately 7:00 PM depending on traffic.

There is a 28 person limit for this trip, so please RSVP to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com if interested.

Images: Of and from The Cushing Collection as featured in The New York Times.

Educate yourself on the bodies natural pressure points through this gorgeously delicate screen print by award winning illustrator, designer, filmmaker, and Street Anatomy team member, Heather Tompkins. The anatomical illustration seems to float upward in the expanse of blue paper as the small descriptive words draw you in closer.

Available for $40 at the Street Anatomy store. [Update] Only 8 left!

30"x22" 6 color screen print by Heather Tompkins

30"x22" 6 color screen print detail by Heather Tompkins

'Pressure' head detail

'Pressure' anatomy detail

'Pressure' type detail

'Pressure' type detail

'Pressure' signed and numbered by Heather Tompkins

• 30″x22″ 6 color screen print, 2011
• Printed on light blue Magnani Pescia, mouldmade in Italy from 100% cotton with two natural deckles and two tear deckles
• Limited edition of 10 prints, numbered and signed by the artist

All of the separations, including the type, were hand drawn in ink on large sheets of clear Dura-lar. Absolutely no digital separations or images were used in the process. All illustrations and all aspects of the printing process were done by Heather, the hand written type was done by Colleen Stockmann (who has exceptional penmanship). It can also be noted that Colleen also did all the hand written type for our other collaborative effort, Of These Bones and Branches, that was featured in the first Street Anatomy show.

Inspiration and text courtesy of The People’s Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English; or, Medicine Simplified by R.V Pierce, MD. circa 1918.

Heather says of the inspiration for the piece:

The book is filled with old school medical advise mixed with testimonials about how awesome Pierce’s Invalid’s Hotel and Surgical Institute that he established is. It’s basically a big ad for his hospital/hotel, it’s pretty entertaining/interesting and has some fascinating descriptions and old etchings in it. It reminds me of the bizzar things we saw at the Museum of surgical science where SA was. I got together with some anatomy loving friends over drinks one night and we decided that together we would make old medical inspired artwork. I think our next project will be to illustrate the portraits of doctors who have had fancy sounding procedures named after them. There are bound to some epic muttonchops and mustaches involved.