The Eyes Have It

If you are in the Philadelphia area, you might want to check out Mammoth Scale: The Anatomical Sculptures of William Rush — an exhibit at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wistar Institute.

The size of Rush’s anatomical sculptures stems from the popularity of the medical lectures Caspar Wistar gave as chair of anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania. Teaching classes with as many as 500 students, Wistar found it impossible to demonstrate minute anatomical structures to his large audiences. He commissioned Rush to create the oversized models so that his lectures would be understandable to everyone who attended. Rush’s anatomical sculptures are democratic objects, designed to allow greater numbers of students to attain professional expertise.