The macabre ways human skeletal remains are depicted or used in art.
Lately, I’ve been exploring 18th and 19th century medical ephemera that advertised old medicines and medical procedures. Some of these fliers are weird, some are creepy, and most haunt my dreams. But these “trade cards” for an 18th century “skeleton supplier” in… Read More ›
I think I might be obsessed with kusozu, Japanese watercolor paintings that graphically depict human decomposition, which were popular between the 13th and 19th centuries; Body of a Courtesan in Nine Stages is another series in this genre featured previously on this site. Kusozu works of art were inspired by Buddhist… Read More ›
When Leo Bonten, a 53-year-old Dutch man, needed to have his right leg amputated earlier this year because the broken limb became infected, he was inspired to turn his amputated leg into a floor lamp. But this bit of morbid… Read More ›
“Body of a Courtesan in Nine Stages” was painted on handscroll by Japanese artist Kobayashi Eitaku in the 1870’s. It’s not unusual for artists to study corpses and body parts because of their need to learn about the human form, and because of the… Read More ›
In a remote region of Austria, between mountains and a lake, lays the picturesque town of Hallstatt. Because of the town’s geography, the people started to run out of space to bury their dead in the early in the 18th… Read More ›
Anthony-Noel Kelly is a British artist who made casts of dissected body parts for an exhibition at the London Contemporary Art Fair in 1997. The problem was is that he stole anatomical specimens from the Royal College of Surgeons to fabricate… Read More ›
Museo di Palazzo Poggi was founded in 1714 to house the Instituto dell Scienze of Bologna. The Anatomical and Obstetrics Collection is located at the Palazzo Poggi and includes eerie rare 18th century anatomical wax works. Some of these wax… Read More ›
This is a pretty awesome idea for an engagement or wedding announcement. Ayako Kanda and Hayashi Mayuka took couples portraits to another level for their senior thesis exhibition at Musashino Art University, which recently won the Mitsubishi Chemical Junior Designer… Read More ›
Al Farrow is a San Francisco based sculptor who uses media associated with warfare to reconstruct religious buildings for his “Twentieth Century Reliquaries” series. At first glance these intricate pieces look like miniature replicas of churches, synagogues, mosques, monuments, and mausoleums. … Read More ›
In the 19th century many artists forged relationships with surgeons and medical schools because cadavers were needed in anatomy classes, like those taught at the Royal Academy of Arts. However, the supply of cadavers was in very short supply because English medical schools could… Read More ›
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