Carin Berkowitz gave an intriguing talk about Charles Bell, a British anatomist living and working in 19th century England, and his practice of linking science and art. Bell was a renowned anatomist at the time who opened his own anatomy school in London. His teaching styles consisted of utilizing many different mediums to illustrate the human body in addition to practicing surgery. His figures were created with artistry and craft that was unusual for this type of art. It was through these sculptures, paintings, and drawings that Bell highlighted the large intersection between art and science, and how they so explicitly rely on each other.
Bell and his artwork embody one of the few intersections between once seemingly polar opposite fields. He links science and art in a way that is both functional and beautiful. Bell linking these subjects attests to how connected our world is, he was just an early example of intersectionality. This connectedness erases the boxes that we once set for our society. This interest in science and art is not uncommon. Leonardo da Vinci blended art and science to create his masterpiece “Mona Lisa”, and the field of architecture is a blend of physics and sculpture.
Bell’s work is an anatomically correct version of human anatomy. It is interesting to see how this vision of art portraying humans has changed into present day. Idealized forms of the human body are common among pieces of art and lately, it seems that mass media propagates a very specific unachievable human form. Even in Bell’s illustrations, he depicts the insides of muscular, thin, physically fit humans. Here, we see the roots of or modern beauty standards that we see play out in media today.
Art is a way to communicate scientific understanding in accessible ways. During science fairs in middle school, I was always instructed to make a poster that communicates my findings. On a larger scale, nature documentaries like Planet Earth and Chasing Ice blend beautiful and sometimes troubling images about nature to advocate for climate change that is based on evidence found by scientific journals.
Berkowitz’s lecture made me realize just how similar art and science really are. Both disciplines attempt to depict or describe the world around us. Science uses formulas and diagrams, while art uses prose and paintings. All of these attempt to understand the unknown, and share knowledge that is acquired in the process of creating a scientific or artistic work. Before the rigidity that once prevailed in our society, we see people like Bell and da Vinci, who naturally bridged the gap between science and art, and explored them both. Today, we are returning to that mindset which opens doors to our new innovations, like 3D printers that utilize computer code to create physical objects or understanding how pixels can create visually stunning digital images.