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Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Grande Odalisque, 1814, Louvre

Source: Public domain

The picture was painted in 1814 for Napoleon’s sister Karolina Murat. Ingres was inspired by famous works of the Renaissance period, incl. Venus Girogione and Venus of Urbino by Titian, as well as from the portrait of Madame Récamier on the highway by Jacques-Louis David. Already at the first public presentation, Titan met with a negative opinions due to the artist’s disregard for anatomical realism. Critics have pointed out that the lady depicted on painting  has two or three too many vertebrae (modern scientific research has proven that there are even five too many of these vertebrae) and that her spine curvature along with pelvic rotation is impossible to recreate in reality. The visual effect of excessive length of the Odalist’s torso is moving her head away from the pelvis. This impression is intensified by the fact that her left arm is shorter than the right one. In such an unusual depiction of the figure of a woman from the harem, combined with the indifferent expression of her face, the painter wanted to express the contrast between the body (a reference to the duties performed at the Sultan’s court) and the psyche (her thoughts and feelings related to the performance of the above-mentioned activities).

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Michelangelo, David, 1501-1504, Galleria dell’Accademia in florence

Source: Public domain

The sculpture of David is considered, next to the Vatican Pieta, the most famous work of Michelangelo. The statue, more than 5 meters high, was made of a single block of marble and initially stood in Piazza della Signiora in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. In 1873, the sculpture was moved to the Academy Gallery for conservation, and a copy was placed in the main square of Florence in the early 20th century. The figure of David is shown in a counterpoint with a slightly bent torso. The body of the biblical king is muscular and has numerous blood vessels are clearly visible. The artist’s goal was to show the beauty of the human body with all its perfection, but both the hands and the head, judging their size, are somewhat unreal. In all its dimensions, the sculpture of David referred to ancient patterns, and above all to the sculpture of Doryphorus by Polykleitos. While working on it, Michelangelo used the knowledge of the anatomy of the human body, which he had acquired through the dissections carried out several years earlier in the monastery at the Santo Spirito church in Florence.

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Pablo Picasso, The Young Ladies of Avignon, 1907, Museum of Modern Art in New York

Source: Public domain

Picasso’s painting entitled “Maids and Avignon” became due to its innovative style the key to the world of modern art. This depiction popularized a new art movement in painting called cubism, of which the Spanish painter was one of the pionieers. The titular girls presented by Picasso are prostitutes from one of Barcelona’s streets. Presented in geometrical form, in various positions they look as if they were deformed. It is not about exposing beauty or ugliness, the dynamics of superimposed planes, intensified by the colors in shades of pink and red, rather evoke the impression of wildness and passion. Women’s faces resemble masks, as the artist was inspired by the works of old African and Iberian art. The departure from the centuries-old painting tradition is also manifested in the abandonment of the perspective and background. The human body will never look the same in modern art from now on. Along with this work, a new painting reality was created. Interestingly, in the preparatory sketches for “The Maidens of Avignon” there was a figure of a medical student holding a skull in his hands, which strengthened the allegorical dimension of the painting and referred to the symbols of vanitas.

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The project ‘Uncover the secrets of the human body in an anatomical theatre of the 21st century’

The project ‘Uncover the secrets of the human body in an anatomical theatre of the 21st century’ which is being carried out in the years 2020–2022.

Co-financed by the programme ‘Social Responsibility of Science’ run by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

The Medical University of Warsaw has received funding of PLN 266,175.51 in response to its application submitted to the programme ‘Social Responsibility of Science’ run by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

The Project is being carried out by the Museum of the History of Medicine, with the assistance of other entities within the university, and is headed by Dr Adam Tyszkiewicz, director of the Museum of the History of Medicine at the Warsaw Medical University.

As part of the project, a teaching room will be set up modelled on early modern anatomical theatres, in which classes and practical workshops will be held, as well as scientific meetings to popularize the history of medicine, pharmacy and their relationship with the humanities. In addition, a series of open lectures will be delivered by specialists in the aforementioned fields.

The aim of the Project is to promulgate the current state of knowledge on the human anatomy among young people and adults so as to increase social awareness on the functioning of the human body, provoke an interest in the medical sciences among the participants, and awaken their curiosity through the presentation of knowledge both from the perspective of the medical sciences as well as the humanities. Furthermore, the project has the objective of familiarizing the audience with the profiles of renowned Polish anatomists whose biographies encompass both their scientific activities and their services to their homeland. We are hoping to make available a modern space which will continue to function when the ministerial programme ends.

During a series of classes held in the anatomical theatre, young people from secondary schools and groups of adults from selected organizations – such as associations, retirement homes, universities of the third age – will get to learn about medicine and the humanities. The remaining group of participants, i.e. all other interested parties, will have the opportunity to become acquainted with attractive themed presentations by specialists in various disciplines which are broadly related to human anatomy.

Therefore, we warmly encourage you all to follow our project website where you can find updates about the progress of our activities and planned events, and knowledge for all in the field of anatomy.

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Friedrich Paulsen Jens Waschke (ed) Sobotta Atlas of Anatomy, English, 16th edition

Volume 1. General Anatomy and Musculoskeletal System
Volume 2. Internal Organs
Volume 3. Head, Neck and Neuroanatomy

The creator of the atlas, prof. Robert Johannes Sobotta (1869–1945) was born in Bonn, Germany, and was professor and director of the Institute of Anatomy at the University of Bonn. The first edition of his work was published in three volumes  in 1904-1907 in Würzburg by JK Lehmans Verlag. Since then, in 113 years, various editors have introduced some additions and improvements to the atlas, but the heritage and thought of prof. Sobotty continues.

The atlas has been translated into 18 languages ​​and is probably the most translated anatomical atlas in the world. The last, 24th edition was published in German in 2017 and was translated into Polish in 2019. The atlas consists of three parts:

Volume 1: General anatomical concepts and musculoskeletal system

Volume 2: Internal Organs

Volume 3: Head, Neck and Neuroanatomy

In each volume, apart from discussing the most important issues, there are descriptions of several selected clinical cases showing the described anatomical structures in a broader context. At the end of each chapter, there are short test questions to engage readers and consolidate the acquired knowledge. Each illustration is described accurately and comprehensively, the quality of the drawings is extremely precise. Numerous tomography and nuclear magnetic resonance images were added as color figures.

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Delfin Jałowik, Monika Kozioł, Maria Anna Potocka (red.) Medycyna w sztuce (Medicine in Art), Kraków 2016

The publication was issued as a catalogue of the temporary exhibition “Medicine in Art”, organized by the MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow in 2016. The richly illustrated book presents photographs of the exhibits on display: paintings, installations, photos, sculptures and animations by artists such as Marina Abramovic, Alina Szapocznikow, Wilhelm Sasnal, Tadeusz Kantor and Jürgen Klauke. The images of the objects are accompanied by short descriptions and biographies of the authors. The publication also includes six texts with content related to the title of the exhibition, including: a text about the Josephinum collection by Christiane Druml and Moritz Stipsicz and an essay by Axel Hinrich Murken “The art of healing in the work of Joseph Beuys”.

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Ernst Hausner Die Pathologisch-Anatomische Sammlung im Narrenturm des Alten Allgemeinen Krankenhauses, Wien 2015

The Narrenturm pathological and anatomical collection is the largest and oldest of its kind. The five-storey Narrenturm rotunda, which now houses the museum, is a unique structure due to its architecture. It is located on the site of a former hospital and is the first building to be ever built exclusively for the mentally ill people.

In Narrenturm, in 1971 the collection of the pathological and anatomical institute  was installed (this collection dates back to year 1796) and has grown into a museum with about 50,000 and objects. The book contains 592 color photos and introductory texts on the history of anatomy and health care during the Enlightenment, the history of the hospital itself and the pathological and anatomical collection. Book is richly illustrated, with depiction of skeletons and images of different diseases in the form of wounds, and dissection protocols and veterinary collection are summarized in chapters.

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Johanna Bleker, Petra Lenning, Thomas Schnalke Tiefe Einblicke. Das Anatomische Theather im Zeitalter der Aufklarung Berlin, 2018

The anatomical theater marks a central place for European medicine in the modern era. Many bodies were autopsied for research purposes. This gave future surgeons, doctors, midwives and pharmacists a deep insight into the structure of the human body. These events were also available to a wider audience who gathered to get an idea of ​​the form and function of the God-invented bodily machine that, after death, so suddenly and inevitably fell victim to impermanence.

Based on the now defunct Berlin Anatomical Theater, which was opened in 1713, this publication presents the various forms of shaping this medical form of teaching on the example of many anatomical theaters in the 18th century. The book explores their embeddedness in local medical infrastructures and thus their role in building the structures of the early modern healthcare system.

Moreover, the anatomical theater becomes a permanent point and a source of inspiration for the development of the collection of medical preparations: here the heart, brain, liver, kidneys and gallstones were obtained, preserved and conserved. It was not uncommon for these items to end up in private anatomical collections and museums – they became the pride of collectors, were used for teaching and as objects for scientific research.

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