New exhibition - Body Parts: the art and application of medical illustration

Hunterian Museum
Royal College of Surgeons of England 
20 September to 9 November 2024 
Tuesday - Saturday, 10am-5pm 

Included with free entry ticket to Hunterian Museum, book via Hunterian Museum website https://hunterianmuseum.org/ 

Body Parts - a new exhibition at The Hunterian Museum in London celebrates the contribution by medical artists in healthcare education, patient communication, and public health campaigns. 

Medical illustration is a centuries-old tradition that started with anatomy atlases in the 1400s. Over time, it has adapted to the digital age while still focusing on its main goal: using visuals to explain complex medical information. 

The artwork, whether created through traditional methods like pencil and ink or using cutting-edge digital software, serves a wide range of applications in the healthcare sector. Medical illustrations are used in many ways to help people understand health and medical treatments, appearing in healthcare leaflets, public health campaigns, forensic portraits, educational materials like exam papers and textbooks, fitness and yoga guides, training models for healthcare students, and museum exhibits.  

Medical illustrations are usually created, whether drawn, painted or digitally produced, at a relatively small size, clear and accurate ready for annotation and text to be added before they are published. 

Body Parts shows illustrations at a far larger size than they were originally produced – highlighting the extraordinary intricacy of the art that underpins all medical illustration. 
 
Dawn Kemp, Director of Museums and Special Collections at the Royal College of Surgeons of England said: 

“Throughout history artists have played a major role in helping us better understand the human body, inside and out. Body Parts highlights, in large scale, recent work of professionally trained medical artists, which brilliantly translate complex science into arresting and memorable images - like the first representation in, the world-famous medical journal, the Lancet of the now iconic coronavirus.” 

The exhibition is a collaboration with the Medical Artists’ Association of Great Britain.  

Artists include: 
Catherine Bone, Matt Briggs, Joanna (Culley) Butler, Joanna Cameron, Catherine Chadha, Anne Corless, Francesca Corra, Eleanor Crook, Maurizio DeAngelis, Charlotte Donald Wilson, Ruth Eaves, Philip Ferguson Jones; Debbie Maizels, Mandy Miller, Pascale Pollier-Green, Merlyn Harvey, Anne Wadmore, Amanda Williams, Philip Wilson, and 3D4Medical by Elsevier. 

ENDS  

Notes to editors:  

1. The Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. The Hunterian Museum is named after the 18th century surgeon anatomist John Hunter (1728-1793). In 1799 the UK Government bought Hunter’s collection of 14,000 specimens, paintings and drawings and gave it into the care of the Company of Surgeons (later the Royal College of Surgeons of England) for medical education and training. The independent Board of Trustees of the Hunterian Collection was established to oversee the long-term care and use of Hunter’s Collection. The building erected in Lincoln’s Inn Fields to accommodate Hunter’s Collection first opened in May 1813. 
2. The Royal College of Surgeons of England provides world-class education, assessment, and development to 30,000 surgeons, dental professionals, and members of the wider surgical and dental care teams, at all stages of their careers. Our vision is to see excellent surgical care for everyone. We do this by setting professional standards, facilitating research and championing the best outcomes for patients.   
3. The Medical Artists’ Association of Great Britain (MAA) is the professional body for medical artists in the UK. For further information about the MAA and to see more of the work by the artists included in the exhibition visit: https://maa.org.uk/
4. The Medical Artists’ Education Trust (MAET) runs a Postgraduate Training Programme, workshops and webinars to support the advancement of education in medical art. For further information visit: https://www.maet.org.uk/
5. For more information, please contact the RCS England press office: telephone: 020 7869 6053/6054/6047; email: pressoffice@rcseng.ac.uk