Drawing Damaged Bodies: British Medical Art in the Early Twentieth Century

Citation

Alberti S (2018) Drawing Damaged Bodies: British Medical Art in the Early Twentieth Century. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 92 (3), pp. 439-473. https://doi.org/10.1353/bhm.2018.0055

Abstract
Historians are acutely aware of the role of art in medicine. Elaborate early modern works catch our eye; technical innovations attract analysis. This paper beats a different path by examining three little-known artists in early twentieth-century Britain who deployed what may seem like an outdated method: drawing. Locating the function of pencil and ink illustrations across a range of sites, we take a journey from the exterior of the living patient via invasive surgical operations to the bodily interior. We see the enduring importance of delineation against a backdrop of the mechanization of conflict and of imaging.

Keywords
First World War; medical illustration; pathology; surgery; wounds

Journal
Bulletin of the History of Medicine: Volume 92, Issue 3

• Accepted manuscript