This February, to mark the opening of a new exhibition at the Royal College of Physicians, join Annette Wickham, curator of Works on Paper at the Royal Academy of Arts, as she discusses artists’ engagement with anatomy.
Through 2D drawings, prints and illustrations and 3D écorché figures, many of which sourced from the RA’s collections, this lecture will explore artists’ exploration of anatomy in predominantly the 18th and 19th centuries, while addressing the controversial question of how much anatomical knowledge artists really needed.
What’s Under the Skin?
How artists through the centuries have represented the three-dimensionality of the body is the central question a new exhibition at the Royal College of Physicians Museum will ask.
Open to the public from 1 February, Under the skin: Illustrating the human body exhibits the intricate, breathtaking and multi-dimensional manner with which Physicians, surgeons, artists and printers have illustrated the human anatomy. From simple woodcuts to high-tech MRI scans, the drawings, books and objects from the RCP archive and collections capture beautiful and unsettling interpretations of the shapes, structures and textures of organs and tissues.
These efforts to render the anatomy in three dimensions are often masterpieces of art and science.
Visit the exhibition to explore the artistry and innovation of anatomical illustration from the medieval world to the present day.
Part of Thinking 3D, an interdisciplinary exploration of the concept and communication of three-dimensionality and its impact on the arts and sciences.
