Page 92 - The Venice Biennale 2001 issue of World of Art Magazine

by Tamara Pasztor RevieW Of exhibiTiOns

SPECTACULAR BODIES muscle structure and
The ART AnD science eighteenth-century
wax models in which a
Of The humAn bODy network of arteries and
fROm LeOnARDO DA veins abound.
vinci TO nOW In the next section
hAyWARD gALLeRy there is Marc Quinn’s
LOnDOn engLAnD Eternal Spring (1998)
www.hayward-gallery.org.uk where red flowers are
Exploration of the secrets of the preserved in frozen
natural world and the silicone and a monumental
complex system of spinal column encased in
the human anatomy blown glass by katherine
have captivated dawson introduces the
physicians and second part to the show-
scholars for centuries. human features.
from the Medieval The examination of
and renaissance human emotion and
period, artists often character has gripped
looked upon the scientists and artists.
human torso as a In theory, the state of
figure of creative mind and character is epitomized in Also, head measuring devices invented
inspiration. Twentieth- facial expression. This compelling by francis galton in an attempt to justify
century artisans topic of outward manifestations is that the measurement of head size and
still consider the demonstrated in the works of art by intelligence is possible to distinguish
Homo Sapien Sapien franz xavier Messerschmidt whose human nature. Photographic portraits of
skeletal framework alabaster and lead heads (1775) inmates at Millbank Prison and Bethlam
as a visual art. greet their audience with a asylum are set side by
This exhibition scowl, durer’s celebrated side with gericault’s The
features treasures from eighty museums Melancholia (1514) , and kidnapper (1821-1824),
and collections that incorporate paintings Tony oursler’s crying doll part of the insane
and drawings by leonardo da Vinci, (1995). portrait series.
rembrandt, durer, Stubbs and eight categorizing character American artist
contemporary artists, for instance, Bill types by physical appearance Beth B’s. installation
Viola and christine Barlard. in the nineteenth-century incorporates films of
during the seventeenth and eighteenth resulted in the formation of hysterical women,
century, the medical profession glorified the Edinburgh Phrenological wax models, and
in human dissection and in turn, painters Society. Eight head casts nineteenth-century
depicted dramatic group portraits of the of criminals and prominent restraining devices whilst
surgeons at work. The infamous canvas, men are displayed in this giving a lecture based
The Anatomy lecture of dr.nichlaes exhibition. Amongst the upon the practices of
Tulp (1632) created by rembrandt casts are Burke and Hare, dr.charcot.
Harmenszoon van rijn. Here, rembrandt the illustrious grave robbers.
devised a virtuoso performance of
movement, light, and chiaroscuro. In
a sense, the spectator is drawn into a
theatrical atmosphere and observing
the scalpel brush across the intestines
of the deceased patient. In this case, lEfT And ABoVE: lEonArdo dA VIncI
the Hayward gallery has procured drAWIng of THE TorSo And THE ArMS
froM THE AnAToMIcAl noTEBookS
another eerie painting of rembrandt, dATE UnknoWn
Anatomy of dr.deijman (1656). on the
other hand, human dissections were lEfT And cEnTEr: THEodorE gErIcAUlT
MAdWoMAn
often public events as medicine and dATE UnknoWn
science progressed.
With painstaking minute detail, John lEfT And BoTToM: AlBrEcHT dUrEr
Issac’s video installation piece displays MElAncHolIA
1514.
footage from the anatomy theatre
located in Padua and imagery from ABoVE: rEMBrAndT HArMEnSZoon VAn rIJn
modern hospitals. clashes of two eras THE AnAToMY lEcTUrE of dr.nIcolAES TUlP
meet as twenty sculptures exposing 1632

90 WORLD of ART