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Osteology

Finding new ways to display human skeletons for study and to highlight the differences in form and structure that tell of their lives.

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Finding new ways to display human skeletons for study and to highlight the differences in form and structure that tell of their lives.

Historic anatomy illustrations mixed intricate detail with artistic licence. Skeletons were shown standing, lifelike, no doubt achieved by propping and hanging the cadavers in place for the artist to accuratey depict. Some illustrations transport the dead into a landscape or emotive scene; others unabashedly show a dead thing; the pins, strings and probes in position, showing every detail, sometimes even the dead man's face. Many illustrations struggle between balancing labelling the anatomy and leaving the picture uncluttered.

This series of images mixes artistic poses with comparative layouts, labelling and strings. It is rare for the public to be able to view a variety of skeletons together in order to learn how the subtle differences that tell experts the sex, age and life history of the person. To an experienced eye, they will reveal hints of the life lived by the skeleton. They even show the damage that these dated anatomical specimens have sustained, raising the question of how long they will last, and if they will be replaced with anything but identical plastic facsimiles that lack the individuality of a life history.
More discussion on this topic in this blog post.
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