A List
10/23/06

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM MEDICAL MUSEUM IN EXHIBITION AT SLU

CANTON - "Extraordinary Bodies: Photographs from the Mütter Museum," will be on exhibition in the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery at St. Lawrence University from November 9 through December 15. Max Aguilera-Hellweg, one of the photographers whose work is included in the exhibition, will give a talk on Tuesday, November 14, at 7 p.m. in Room 123 of the Griffiths Arts Center; it is open to the public, free of charge.

The Mütter Museum, one of the last medical museums from the 19th century, comprises "a sublime anatomical and pathological collection" that originated with Dr. Thomas Dent Mütter, a professor of surgery who collected unique specimens and models for teaching purposes. Under the care of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, to which Mütter offered his collection in 1856, the Mütter Museum has grown and survived where others did not. The exhibition includes images from the museum's renowned historical photography collection, alongside contemporary images that extend the boundaries of traditional photographic subject matter.

Exhibition curator Laura Lindgren states, "Photographers and medicine are no strangers. The visual representation of anatomy and pathology as viewed by the camera dates back to the early history of photography when doctors and scientists created anatomical atlases and documented disease and trauma. Photographs also allowed physicians to keep exact visual records of cases long after patients died. The historical bond between photographers and medicine carries forward to the present day with this exhibition, representing more than a decade of work by contemporary photographers."

For more information or to arrange individual or group tours, contact the gallery at 315-229-5174.

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More information: Arts at St. Lawrence