Medical History’s Moment in Art Photography (1920 to 1950): How Lejaren à Hiller and Valentino Sarra Created a Fashion for Scenes of Early Surgery

Abstract

Two groups of black-and-white photographs are found in medical rare book rooms and the collections of historically minded physicians. They were created by artists Hiller and Sarra to bring medical history to life for members of the health professions and, to some extent, for a wider public. These were not didactic illustrations for a textbook, but elegant scenes of great figures from Antiquity to the nineteenth century, evocation not documentation even though they were based on research. As pieces of fine art, cherished in portfolios or framed on the wall, the quality prints were intended to stimulate curiosity about the achievements of the figures portrayed. While familiar to some archivists and librarians, these photographs have received almost no attention in the scholarship of medical history. Only one short article examined them in 1983. In recent years these photographers have been given new consideration by scholars of advertising and photography. Using those works and primary sources, this article expands both men's biographies, and it explores their working methods, their artistry, and their achievements. An appreciation of these photographs enlarges our understanding of the place of medical history in American culture during the first half of the twentieth century.

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