Professor Carin Berkowitz lecture, “Anatomists and the Stolen Statues: Stories of Science, Art, and Religion” provided me with interesting insights into how all of these fields intertwine. I personally never would’ve thought about how interconnected the field of Anatomy and Art were until after this lecture. Using the research and practices of Charles Bell a renowned Anatomist in the early 1800s, Professor Carin Berkowitz explored the fundamental relationship between Art and Science. She also argues that that same relationship has transcended time and is still present in both fields till this day and will remain present in the future of both fields as well.
Charles Bell was a teacher of anatomy before formal medical education became an official practice. His work primarily focused on displaying the body through visual displays. These visual displays include dissections, wax models, preservations, watercolors, and sketches. One of Charles Bell’s philosophy of learning was that the hand was an extension of the eye. Through that process, we can express our internal will through creation. That is why many of Bell’s sketches were extremely detailed and human-like. Instead of just drawing broken up body parts, Bell’s illustrations included the faces of the subject and the even the linens covering their body. For the rest of my reflection, I will be exploring Bell’s affinity for realism and how Bell’s contributions still permeate through society today.
Using the work of Bazin, “The Ontology of the Photographic Image,” I better understand why Charles Bell depicted his illustrations in such a way. According to Bazin, paintings are more eternal than photographs but are limited. Photography allowed artists to embalm time and produce an image that is a reality of nature. Although Bell’s work happened way before the realism movement, I would like to say there was a trend in depicting things as they were in real life and that inspired Bell to do his drawings with such human-like characteristics.
During the questions and answers part of the discussion, an audience member asked Professor Carin Berkowitz about the range of particularity and individuality in Bell’s work and the role of race and sex in the way Bell represented individuality. The lecturer response was that it was rare to see Black men in depictions because many were just body parts. She also added that some people argued that assigning race to anatomical structures was controversial because it should just be representative. Lastly, she said that for a body to take place in the classroom, the victim must not have been able to afford to protect their remains. That last point resonated with me because it just calls to question the ethics of Bell’s work. The corpses he used may have contributed to a large body of research but if the bodies were obtained using unethical practices why is his work so highly celebrated. I also wondered if that was why Bell was so focused on depicting them so realistic as if it was his way of giving the stolen corpses the human dignity they deserved.
Bell’s work in teaching anatomy through artful visual depictions was a very effective way of teaching in the early 19th century. That same utilization of art and visual models are still being used in medicine today through the use of simulations and computer modeling. Anatomy would not be what it is today without the use of visual aids and Charles Bell is in part to thank for that.