The human body is one of the most intricate and fascinating working "machine" operating on earth today, and furthermore, anatomy and dissection of the human body is at the intersection of art and technology today. Medical technology is at the forefront of the technology race as its field is producing some of the newest and cutting-edge technology today.
The first significant text and illustrations of the human anatomy were done by Andreas Vesalius in his De Humani Corporis Fabrica (1543) in which he accurately illustrated and presented an elaborate depiction of the human organs and body structure like no one had done before. A few hundred years later, Henry Gray's Anatomy book would prove to be one of the most influential pieces on the subject and is still used today. The vivid illustrations and detailed descriptions would spark a shift in appeal towards beauty and the human body, and even today, although it was intended for the medical community, most artists who work with the human body use it.
A popular, yet unique, use of the human body in the art world is the exhibition called "Bodies" which display human bodily systems preserved with silicon posed in active positions. It is fascinating exhibition and I was lucky enough to get to visit the traveling exhibit in New York. The exhibit was like nothing I have ever seen and I will remember the remarkable exhibit forever.
X-Rays are taken for granite in the 21st century, as they are used in a wide spectrum and variety of places from airport security to every established hospital in the world. But X-Rays have been one of the most influential inventions since the beginning of the 20th century both in the medical and artist world. CAT scans today are able to provide the doctor with a 3-D image of their patients anatomy and organs, a truly incredible phenomenon. Growing up, my father was a radiologist, a doctor whose practice is primarily reading and diagnosing X-Rays, so I would sit and watch him work with his technicians to take the MRI and CAT scans and then put the images up to light and diagnose his patients. Even as a little kid, I remember watching him scan through "sliced" images of a patients head to look for irregularities. The evolution of X-Rays has allowed for doctors and artists alike to get a better and better understanding of what the human anatomy looks like and the many different variations.
Sources
Gray, Henry Gray's Anatomy Descriptive and Surgical, 1896 13th edition.
Savitz, Masha. "Deconstructing the Human Bodies Exhibit and Falun Gong Genocide." Oct. 14, 2014. http://cinemalibrestudio.com/clsblog/2014/10/14/deconstructing-the-human-bodies-exhibit-the-falun-gong-genocide/
"History of the X-Ray and Radiology." History. NDT Resource Center, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2015. https://www.nde-ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/Radiography/Introduction/history.htm
"CAT Scan vs. MRI." Diffen, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2015. http://www.diffen.com/difference/CT_Scan_vs_MRI
"Vesalius - Pages 3 and 4." Virtual Books: Images Only. British Library, 1543. Web. 25 Apr. 2015. http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/vesalius/accessible/pages3and4.html#content
The imagery that is obtained from x-rays is an amazing thing for art because before then it was hard for us to process what we looked like on the inside. The formed art of how our body is held together and what connects our bones or organs is an exact science that can also be seen as art. The body is and always will be a fascination for artists because everyone has a different image of what a body should look like.
ReplyDeleteThe human body is an excellent masterpiece of art and has many aspects that we are still exploring today. Even with all the technological advances, we still dont completely understand all of the human body, more specifically, the brain. Through evolution humans have become something spectacular
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