Hunter, M.; (2007) Collecting bodies: art, medicine and sexuality in late nineteenth-century France. Doctoral thesis , University of London.

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Abstract

This thesis examines the interconnected discourses of art and medicine during the late nineteenth century in Paris by exploring the effects the 'medicalization' of society had on visual culture and, concurrently, the effects that artistic styles and conventions had on medical iconography. It investigates how artists and doctors worked together to produce realistic representations of bodies, diseases and sexualities. By concentrating on the portraits of three men of science and medicine (Louis Pasteur, Jules Emile Pean and Jean-Martin Charcot) exhibited at the 1887 Salon in Paris, as well as the many images and objects that these men collected, commissioned and created, this thesis explores how artists appropriated, and sought to imitate, the scientific model in order to construct representations of bodies that were considered as real and truthful as possible. By examining the competing claims to truth made by different mediums, stylistic practices and professions, this thesis questions realist claims to objectivity and sincerity, and explores realisms' multiple roles and guises.

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