What does a visit to the imposing RCP mean? The Royal College of Physicians is dominated by medical practitioners visiting for conferences and sometimes research. Every time I’ve visited the RCP there has been at least one conference on.
What does a visit to the RCP mean?
A visit to the RCP mainly consists of looking at interesting things in cabinets but there has been a quite recent inclusion of art to the cabinets. This includes an interesting mix of 3d ceramic, painting and film suggesting a desire to make the RCP more accessible and imaginative. The Museum Trail leaflet also reflects an increasing desire to widen their reach, however I was interested to see that the people depicted on the front of the Museum Trail booklet all looked like medics!
RCP on-line
The website excellent and full of interesting facts and great images.
Visitor participation
It appears that this is very high level medical stuff and not really aimed at the ordinary punter. Little evidence of reaching out to people with little formal education, and unless you are a doctor from a BAME background. And if you are in poor health and/or on a low income you are not likely to find your way here to Regents’ Park let alone find exhibits that relate to your circumstances.
Art at the RCP
Under the Skin: Anatomy art, and identity the unsettling beauty of the human body from the medieval age to the contemporary world. said the leaflet to the free exhibition at the RCP.
Representing the human body is also a question of power. Anatomical illustrations attempt to communicate objective truths about the body, but they also expose questions around identity and consent. Whose bodies are being used, and who controls how they are depicted?
Under the Skin: Anatomy art, and identity Contemporary artworks produce a wide range of answers to this question and are displayed alongside historical books and drawings to offer personal and emotional response to medical representations of the human body. The artworks in a range of media including glass, ceramic, performance and sculpture are stunning. I provide an analysis of my favourite here, but the RCP is so overwhelmingly full of ancient artefacts which demand to be viewed that maybe the art can be overlooked? Maybe there is just too much for the public to engage with here?
Tamsin van Essen
Available at: http://www.tamsinvanessen.com/
Tamsin Van Essen’s work is a particular favourite of mine because it so beautifully encapsulates the tension between lovely ceramic form and the uncomfortable sight of disease. Based on 17th -18th century apothecary jars, the forms have strong historical and medical links, as well as providing the metaphor of vessel as body: they become containers for disease, rather than holding the cure. As family heirlooms, the jars can be passed down through the generations in the same way as hereditary medical conditions such as Psoriasis, Acne, Osteoporosis, Cancer, Syphilis. I chose Van Essen’s work because it engages viewers so well with diseases best known to physicians and in that way bridges the gap in understanding between the Royal College of Physicians and the general public.
Main image at top of page: Birnbaum H. (2020). Entrance to the Royal College of Physicians, London. (professional body and museum) Author’s private collection
Public Facing 
1 Comment