Week Four

I’ve always found it interesting that medicine and art were so closely integrated during the Scientific Revolution. I suppose it has to do with how much of the self is tied up in ideas of spirituality. Art and spirituality have always been tied together (made clear by the huge body of artwork devoted to various deities), as has the human ideal of self. Colombian artist Fernando Botero said that “Art is a spiritual, immaterial respite from the hardships of life.” (Botero)

Sketch of human arm, by Da Vinci

 It’s really interesting that during medieval times only registered artists were allowed to dissect human corpses. (Science Museum)

As much of art that is centered on deities, more of it, perhaps, is centered on reflecting other humans. Some of the earliest artworks, cave paintings found in Indonesia are handprint

Maxime Aubert, right, and a team member work
inside one of the limestone caves on Sulawesi where ancient cave art
was found. (Vergano)

“The age discovered for the oldest hand stencil in the cave—39,900 years old—is therefore merely the minimum age of the minerals coating the image, meaning the art could be thousands of years older.” (Vergano)

Perhaps it comes down to skill sets. As stated in Professor V’s video, “the treatment of the disease was understood to be routed in the accurate representation of the human body.” (Vesna, 4.37) and for the longest time it was artists who had the most ability to draw and represent the human form. There’s also unity of purpose, in both medicine and art the goal is to convey information to a great number of people at once.

MRI Image from Memory Loss Online

Advancing technology allows different stories to be told as well. As Silvia Casini states in her article on MRI imaging, the question of what defines us as human is all wrapped up in our perception of humans (Casini 3). And art is all about asking those kind of questions. MRI technology shows the brain in non-physical shades and hews, and what is art but non-physical.

Casini, Silvia. "Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations between Science and the Arts." Configurations 19.1 (2011): 73-99. Web.

"Fernando Botero Quotes." QuoteHD. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015. <http://www.quotehd.com/quotes/fernando-botero-quote-art-is-a-spiritual-immaterial-respite-from-the-hardships>.

Geographic, By Dan Vergano National. "Cave Paintings in Indonesia Redraw Picture of Earliest Art." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015. <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141008-cave-art-sulawesi-hand-science/>.

"Medicine Pt1." YouTube. YouTube, 21 Apr. 2012. Web. 27 Apr. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=257&v=Ep0M2bOM9Tk>.

"Memory Loss & the Brain." Memory Loss & the Brain. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015. <http://www.memorylossonline.com/glossary/magneticresonanceimaging.html>. 

"Using the Dead." Using the Dead. Science Museum's History of Medicine, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015. <http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/themes/understandingthebody/dead.aspx>.

"Studies of the Arm showing the Movements made by the Biceps". Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Studies_of_the_Arm_showing_the_Movements_made_by_the_Biceps.jpg#/media/File:Studies_of_the_Arm_showing_the_Movements_made_by_the_Biceps.jpg