Similar to many collections of artistic images whose subject is medical science and practice, the scholars who introduce this exhibit remind readers of several things. First, we are reminded of the ontological affinity of medicine and art--namely, the search for knowledge about ourselves. For example, in describing the anatomical representations of Vesalius, Martin Kemp situates the scientist's drive to master the human body within the larger compulsion of the Renaissance to disclose the wonders of God's creation.

Second, we are reminded of the complex interrelationship of art and medicine with Julie Hansen especially noting the synchronous development of medical knowledge and graphic technologies. For example, just as the beginning of modern anatomical practice is inextricable from the advent of the mechanically printed book, so too is the scientific objective of producing increasingly accurate images of the body inextricable from the development of photographic techniques.

Finally, we are reminded of the mechanical correspondences between the phases of medicine--observation, diagnosis, treatment--and the phases of the artistic process. However, because such marvelous and diverse materials were collected here, both Kemp and Hansen break with tradition and appropriately and imaginatively consider them in the broader context of contemporary cultural analysis, calling attention to our own standpoint and challenging us to imagine just how the visual culture of current medicine will look to those outside its institutions in time and place.