Rose Holz, Associate Director of Women’s and Gender Studies and Director of the Humanities in Medicine Program, has been accepted to participate in the “Art, Anatomy, and Medicine Since 1700” Symposium at the University of South Carolina in late spring.
Late last fall at UNL, Holz and her colleague, Sarah Rodriguez (Northwestern University), presented “Meet Dr. Dickinson: The Most Influential 20th Century Sexologist About Whom You’ve Never Heard,” to showcase their research about Dr. Robert Dickinson, one of the early pioneers of modern gynecology and sex research. Holz and Rodriguez highlighted the role of art in Dickinson’s research and influence on the public; both “The Human Sex Atlas” and “The Birth Atlas” as well as a number of sculptures depicting the various stages of fetal development were on display during the lecture. These sculptures, or the “Birth Series,” once displayed in the University of Nebraska State History Museum, were copies of those that had been on display during the 1939/1940 World’s Fair.
This spring, the Birth Series hits the road again. Holz will be presenting “‘Art in the Service of Medical Education’: Dr. Robert L. Dickinson, the Birth Series, and the Use of Sculpture to Teach the Process of Human Development from Fertilization through Delivery” at the Columbia Museum of Art, March 31-April 1, 2016.
