Marble
University of Notre Dame
Loading navigation...

Medical Section of the Head Revealing Brain

Date

1890

Creator

Alexander Fraser

Location

Raclin Murphy Museum of Art

The scientific use of photography began within the first year of the medium’s discovery. A camera’s ability to quickly record a large amount of detailed information corresponded perfectly with two of the nineteenth century’s great obsessions: classifying and ordering. This picture of a human head was taken to train students at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin by Alec Fraser, the professor of anatomy. Fraser had developed a chemical treatment that hardened the inner organs of a cadaver, making it possible to saw off slices and reveal the interior structure. Fraser’s images, like Timothy O’Sullivan’s western survey photographs, have proven over time to possess qualities that transcend their original use as documentation. Some of the pictures appeal to contemporary taste and are expressive of the photographer’s personal vision. In this example, the lines and numbers Fraser inserted to identify parts of the brain may strike modern viewers as strangely numerical, ghostly thoughts still wandering around the dead man’s brain. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)

Cite This
The scientific use of photography began within the first year of the medium’s discovery. A camera’s ability to quickly record a large amount of detailed information corresponded perfectly with two of the nineteenth century’s great obsessions: classifying and ordering. This picture of a human head was taken to train students at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin by Alec Fraser, the professor of anatomy. Fraser had developed a chemical treatment that hardened the inner organs of a cadaver, making it possible to saw off slices and reveal the interior structure. Fraser’s images, like Timothy O’Sullivan’s western survey photographs, have proven over time to possess qualities that transcend their original use as documentation. Some of the pictures appeal to contemporary taste and are expressive of the photographer’s personal vision. In this example, the lines and numbers Fraser inserted to identify parts of the brain may strike modern viewers as strangely numerical, ghostly thoughts still wandering around the dead man’s brain. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)
Open external viewer application
  • The scientific use of photography began within the first year of the medium’s discovery. A camera’s ability to quickly record a large amount of detailed information corresponded perfectly with two of the nineteenth century’s great obsessions: classifying and ordering. This picture of a human head was taken to train students at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin by Alec Fraser, the professor of anatomy. Fraser had developed a chemical treatment that hardened the inner organs of a cadaver, making it possible to saw off slices and reveal the interior structure. Fraser’s images, like Timothy O’Sullivan’s western survey photographs, have proven over time to possess qualities that transcend their original use as documentation. Some of the pictures appeal to contemporary taste and are expressive of the photographer’s personal vision. In this example, the lines and numbers Fraser inserted to identify parts of the brain may strike modern viewers as strangely numerical, ghostly thoughts still wandering around the dead man’s brain. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)
  • The scientific use of photography began within the first year of the medium’s discovery. A camera’s ability to quickly record a large amount of detailed information corresponded perfectly with two of the nineteenth century’s great obsessions: classifying and ordering. This picture of a human head was taken to train students at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin by Alec Fraser, the professor of anatomy. Fraser had developed a chemical treatment that hardened the inner organs of a cadaver, making it possible to saw off slices and reveal the interior structure. Fraser’s images, like Timothy O’Sullivan’s western survey photographs, have proven over time to possess qualities that transcend their original use as documentation. Some of the pictures appeal to contemporary taste and are expressive of the photographer’s personal vision. In this example, the lines and numbers Fraser inserted to identify parts of the brain may strike modern viewers as strangely numerical, ghostly thoughts still wandering around the dead man’s brain. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)
Alexander Fraser (Scottish, 1853 - 1909)
1890
Photographs
Collotype on cream woven paper
2004.008
brains
heads
human
Not on view, please request access
16 3/4 x 13 1/8 in. (42.5 x 33.2 cm)
Milly Kaeser Fund in honor of Fritz Kaeser

Our collection information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. If you have spotted an error, please contact Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at RMMACollections@nd.edu.