Medical posters as art
A new exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art celebrates the slick design of old public health messages and pharmaceutical ads
[Published 1st April 2011 01:17 PM GMT]
The museum that houses one of the most iconic medicine-themed paintings of all time, "The Gross Clinic" by Thomas Eakins, is opening a new exhibition of posters called Health for Sale.
Compagnie de Fermiere's mineral water
Philadelphia Museum of ArtThe collection includes works depicting the "social plague" of syphilis, the benefits of aspirin, and the dangers of marijuana -- the "Weed with Roots in Hell."
The posters in the exhibit were collected by William H. Helfand, a chemical engineer who worked for more than 30 years as an executive in pharmaceutical giant Merck's international operations division. His job with Merck took him to Paris, where he collected numerous medical posters.
Helfand is a great collector of emphemera, says the exhibit's co-curator John Ittman. Aside from medical posters, he has collected thousands of items, such as labels from pharmaceutical bottles, postcards, and medical pamphlets.
The posters -- ranging from those commissioned by wealthy pharmacists of the 1840s to ones with a more modern message, such as the poster from an 1985 concert to raise money for AIDS research -- each aim to capture the public's attention with visually arresting colors and design.
Many of the historical posters make dubious claims as to a medical product's health effects, targeting what Ittman calls "that sort of gullible side of human nature." Some of the cures "promise to do everything for you, but they very well may have helped relieve a scratchy throat," Ittman adds.
The prints add to the museum's Ars Medica collection, which includes Rembrandt etchings of well known doctors of the 17th century. It is "the only collection of its kind in a major art museum," notes Ittman. Scroll down to see a few of the posters appearing in Health for Sale, which will be on display from April 2nd through July 31st at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Compagnie de Fermiere's mineral water
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The posters in the exhibit were collected by William H. Helfand, a chemical engineer who worked for more than 30 years as an executive in pharmaceutical giant Merck's international operations division. His job with Merck took him to Paris, where he collected numerous medical posters.
Helfand is a great collector of emphemera, says the exhibit's co-curator John Ittman. Aside from medical posters, he has collected thousands of items, such as labels from pharmaceutical bottles, postcards, and medical pamphlets.
The posters -- ranging from those commissioned by wealthy pharmacists of the 1840s to ones with a more modern message, such as the poster from an 1985 concert to raise money for AIDS research -- each aim to capture the public's attention with visually arresting colors and design.
Many of the historical posters make dubious claims as to a medical product's health effects, targeting what Ittman calls "that sort of gullible side of human nature." Some of the cures "promise to do everything for you, but they very well may have helped relieve a scratchy throat," Ittman adds.
The prints add to the museum's Ars Medica collection, which includes Rembrandt etchings of well known doctors of the 17th century. It is "the only collection of its kind in a major art museum," notes Ittman. Scroll down to see a few of the posters appearing in Health for Sale, which will be on display from April 2nd through July 31st at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Read more: Medical posters as art - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/58099/#ixzz1IOfIS9gE
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario