Seeing is believing: New York Academy of Medicine's Vesalius 500th year celebrations.

This year marks the 500 year anniversary of Andreas Vesalius’ birth (né Andries van Wesel, 1514–1564), and celebrations in his honor are taking place across the globe. Vesalius’ groundbreaking De humani corporis fabrica (The Fabric of the Human Body) appeared first in 1543. Departing from more stylized and metaphorical observations of the body and, most importantly, challenging the work of Galen, Fabrica profoundly changed medical and anatomical knowledge. Unlike the second-century Greek physician Claudius Galenus, who based many of his anatomical observations on dissections of dogs, pigs, and monkeys, Vesalius had the benefit of opening human bodies and, with the help of artists, rendering them as he saw them. In the process, he ushered in a new emphasis on artistic realism that has persisted through the ages. And yet, this relationship between art and anatomy is not without problems; what counts as art? Who has the right to speak for the body? What, in fact, is realism—or truth—when it comes to anatomical representation? These were the queries of the recent Festival of Medical History and the Arts at the New York Academy of Medicine, Vesalius 500: Art, Anatomy, and the Body (Oct 18, 2014). Engaging a group of scholars, physicians, artists, and performers, this one-day conference explored the legacy of Vesalius’ work and it is continued influence on medicine—and even upon embodied identity. Guest-curated by artist and anatomist Riva Lehrer and hosted/co-curated by Lisa O’Sullivan (Director, Center for the History of Medicine and Public Health, NYAM) and Paul Theerman (Associate Director), the one-day conference included sessions on everything from wearable anatomy art to medical 3-D printing demonstrations. Heidi Latsky presented the ‘‘GIMP’’ dance project, Alice Dreger discussed the invention of medical photography, and others focused their attention on the Fabrica itself—from the metaphors of the Frontispiece to the issues of translation, duplications, and even plagiarism.