Commissioned by Henry Tate, and first exhibited in 1981 in the Royal Academy, “The Doctor” painting was instantly popular. Especially in the medical community and for many others “The Doctor” shows an ideal of 19th century medicine, and retains much of its popularity because of this (Kernahan). This image has even appeared on postage stamps in the United States and Britain. It is one of the fifty-seven original pictures in Tate Britain’s new site donated by Henry Tate.
Fildes paints a young boy lying across two chairs, his face illuminated by the glass lamp on the table. The doctor, dressed in a tailored suit, sits beside the makeshift bed looking down at his patient anxiously. The shade of a lamp is tilted so as to bestow light on the two central figures: the doctor, and the child. Although the majority of the light comes from the lamp, a bit of light also enters from the recessed window near the mother. This is daybreak beginning to come in through the windows. The physician faces away from the bottled medicine and cup on the table and directs his gaze fully on the child. The extent of the youth’s illness can be seen by the half empty medicine bottle on the table, and the bowl and jug, used to relieve the boy’s temperature, on the bench. The bits of paper on the floor could be prescriptions made out by the doctor for medicine now already taken. The boy’s parents are shown in the background. They are placed in such deep shadows that it is frequently difficult to make out these figures in reproductions. The boy’s father, standing in the far back with his hand on the shoulder of his wife whose hands are clasped as if in prayer, looks in to the grave face of the doctor. The mother sits at a table and hides her face in her clasped h...
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...nstein could have also influenced the fictional and romanticized painting of Fildes tragic scene (Kernahan). There is not any standard equipment, nor are there any new technologies within the image, giving it a timeless feeling (Kernahan)..
In 1949 and 1952 “The Doctor” was used by the American Medical Association in a campaign against a proposal for nationalized medical care put forth by Harry S Truman. It was printed on posters and pamphlets along with the slogan “Keep politics out of this picture,” playing on the idealization and romance of the image. The image is also debated still on how accurate it is to the time it was painted and medicine as it was. It is still incredibly popular. After it’s first exhibition, nearly 1 million engraving copies were sold in the United States alone, and is one of the firsts to make the working class a popular subject matter.
Even in the medical field, male doctors were dominate to the hundreds of well educated midwives. “Male physicians are easily identified in town records and even in Martha’s diary, by the title “Doctor.” No local woman can be discovered that way” (Ulrich, 1990, pg.61). Martha was a part of this demoralized group of laborers. Unfortunately for her, “in twentieth-century terms, the ability to prescribe and dispense medicine made Martha a physician, while practical knowledge of gargles, bandages, poultices and clisters, as well as willingness to give extended care, defined her as a nurse” (Ulrich, 1990, pg.58). In her diary she even portrays doctors, not midwives, as inconsequential in a few medical
For countless years there has always been an urgent need for doctors. Different methods would be used to cure people from their sicknesses. However, life is given by God and it is he who can take it away. Doctors play the role of saving lives, but in the end, they are powerless because nature has to take its course leaving humanity at its limits. In Vincent Lams novel “Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures”, Lam challenges the myth that doctors are omnipotent by contending that “medicine is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability”. Using Fitzgerald as a focal point, Lam debunks the myth that doctors are omnipotent through situations of medical failure, having a loss of power and control and by inhabiting deadly diseases. By showings his mistakes, Lam proves that Fitz is not perfect and God like.
Throughout medicine, there have been heroes, villains, and people in between. Which category they are put in depends on the beholder. However, whether the person in question is seen as a good or bad person, they still could have contributed to medicine’s history. This is the case with Karl Brandt, a physician who worked under Hitler during World War II. While he may have practiced medicine in an unconventional way, he was a major figure who made an impact.
Starr, P. Medicine, "Economy and Society in Nineteenth century America," Journal of Social History. 1977. pp10, 588-607.
While the concept of the profession began in the 17th century, our paper will focus more on the contemporary American history starting in the 1940s. Dr. Amos Johnson, a founder of the American Board of Family Practice, hired a hospital orderly named Henry Treadwell to assist in the daily activities of his office. Dr. Johnson’s practice in Garland, North Carolina, initiated the spread of the physician assistant model across the state. Dr. Eugene Stead and his general medicine residents at Duke University took interest in this idea. In 1942, due to the lack of adequate medical care during World War II, Dr. Stead created a three year medical doctorate fast-track program. This sparked the idea that perhaps one day he could implement a similar program to alleviate the physician shortage in the United States.
Though most works of art have some underlying, deeper meaning attached to them, our first impression of their significance comes through our initial visual interpretation. When we first view a painting or a statue or other piece of art, we notice first the visual details – its size, its medium, its color, and its condition, for example – before we begin to ponder its greater significance. Indeed, these visual clues are just as important as any other interpretation or meaning of a work, for they allow us to understand just what that deeper meaning is. The expression on a statue’s face tells us the emotion and message that the artist is trying to convey. Its color, too, can provide clues: darker or lighter colors can play a role in how we judge a piece of art. The type of lines used in a piece can send different messages. A sculpture, for example, may have been carved with hard, rough lines or it may have been carved with smoother, more flowing lines that portray a kind of gentleness.
In “Is Art a Waste of Time?” Rhys Southan examines Effective Altruists’ (EA’s), an organization that advocates people to pursue a career that provides money for generous donations (Southan). Southan also explains how EA’s believe that it is an ethical choice in giving up one’s hobbies to increase their income for those living in extremities (Southan). Despite the EA’s view of ethical standards, there are many variations of what people consider to be right and wrong behavior. Jobs such as being a teacher, a doctor or an artist, all have related ethical principles in which could define how moral a person is in their occupation. An ethical career is one that allows a person to have integrity, compassion and passion when helping others.
In 1874, Thomas Eakins took a second course in anatomy at Jefferson Medical College. He attended surgical lectures and clinics presided over by Professor Samuel D. Gross. Eakins painted “The Gross Clinic,” to show the emotion involved in medical procedures.
Sullivan, Lawrence. The Case against Socialized Medicine; A Constructive Analysis of the Attempt to Collectivize American Medicine. Washington: The Statesman Press, 1948.
During my trip to the Art Gallery of Ontario, I found there to be one painting that surely stood out and made an unique impression on me, it was certainly a painting unlike the rest of the in the gallery. When my eyes met those of the portrait of Dr. Heinrich by Otto Dix, I was deeply intrigued and found myself to be drawn to the piece and inspecting it the longest out of the all the options of paintings that I saw at the AGO.
Art provokes oneself to express a feeling that one has encountered in their lifetime and allows the artist to display their masterpiece for an observer to connect to. Artist Berthe Morisot once said, “It is important to express oneself… provided the feelings are real and are taken from your own experience”. With the usage of movements, hues, sounds, shapes, or methods articulated in words, an artist can communicate his or her beliefs by making emotional connections to their audience. Art allows individuals to express themselves in creative ways that can bring many individuals closer by having a connection. In Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, nearly everyone is conditioned in the modern world to show the impact of what art can influence
Examining the formal qualities of Homer Watson’s painting Horse and Rider In A Landscape was quite interesting. I chose to analyze this piece as apposed to the others because it was the piece I liked the least, therefore making me analyze it more closely and discover other aspects of the work, besides aesthetics.
Over a century ago, when Bernard Shaw wrote The Doctor’s Dilemma in 1906, England’s health care was terrifyingly primitive. If one had the misfortune of falling ill during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, essentially, one had the choice of two treatment options. The sufferer could either turn to the local druggist to purchase an expensive patent medicine, of which the ingredients largely comprised of opiates or alcohol and were consequently addictive; or, the patient could visit the equally costly doctor and receive a diagnosis which often led to a treatment involving sharp knives, bleeding, and the prescribing of more addictive drugs. Both treatment options and professions claimed they could cure anything and everything, and save a man from his impending last rites. Bernard Shaw apparently found these claims as quacked as his contemporary audiences as his comedy, The Doctor’s Dilemma, bestows an ironic portrayal of the attempts of the period’s medical professionals’ to play God. This biblical irony which Shaw so wittily scribed could not have been depicted more clearly than through Ken MacDonald’s set design. In particular, MacDonald’s design renditions of Christian symbolism became further pronounced when combined with director Morris Panych’s blocking choices and Shaw’s text.
As I enter the Gioconda and Joseph King Gallery at the Norton Museum of Art the first thing that Caught my attention was a painting measuring approximately at 4 ft. by 10 ft. on the side wall in a well- light area. As I further examine the painting the first thing I notice is that it has super realism. It also has color, texture, implied space, stopped time, and that it is a representational piece. The foreign man sitting on the chair next to a bed has a disturbed look on his face and is deep into his own thoughts. It’s as if someone he loved dearly just experienced a tragic and untimely death. He is in early depression. I could feel the pain depicted in his eyes. A book titled The Unquiet Grave lying open on the floor by the unmade bed suggesting something is left unresolved. The scattered photos and papers by the bedside cause redintegration. The picture of Medusa’s head screaming on the headboard is a silent scream filled with anger and pain, yet it cannot be heard. I feel as if I am in the one sitting in the chair and I can feel the anger, and regret.
Personally, my culture did not play a big role when I was in the midst