Wellcome Collection, Medicine Man

Helen Birnbaum Ceramics

What does a visit to the Wellcome Foundation mean?

Well resourced, colourful and informative venue which is always a pleasure to visit. The Wellcome is a free museum funded by the largest pharmaceutical company in the UK which houses a changing programme of exhibits and there is also a well stocked library accessible to researchers. Visitors seem to come from wide ranging backgrounds and there are lots of people dropping in from Euston station which is close by.

There are many different exhibits on show such as diagrams, old medical equipment, art in science pieces, films, tactile surfaces, for those with limited eye sight audio and lots of films. A considerable effort has been made to make the Wellcome Collection as accessible as possible for the widest range of people. The building is accessible too.

Wellcome Foundation on-line

Clear, informative and easily understood showing the wide range of exhibitions, events and talks on offer.

Art at the Wellcome Foundation

The collection of pharmacological ephemera and personal effects of Henry Wellcome used to live in the Science Museum in Kensington. Henry Wellcome was a man from humble origins who went on to dominate the drug industry.

Some of the Henry Wellcome Medicine Man collection remains much as I remember if from when it was installed in the Science Museum. It is a superb assortment of ephemera once owned by the famous man whose career as a trail blazer in the drug industry has not been without controversy.  But the fascinating collection new offers new perspectives on historic views of sex, obesity, mummification and differences in health care and cultural practices, The exhibition is more exciting than I remember it in its earlier incarnation at the Science Museum where it was very safe and very brown.   

The move of this archive to the Wellcome Collection in Euston has been part of a huge overhaul of the Science Museums’ medical collection.  This shows how closely these two iconic London museums work together, but also how the Science Museum’s public financial base is well supported by the pharmacological industry.

Main image at top of page: Unknown photographer. (2018) Wellcome Foundation London (museum) Available at: https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g186338-d662065-i155976253-Wellcome_Collection-London_England.html

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Published by Helen Birnbaum Ceramics

I am an artist who has always approached society and science in a questioning way. My aim has always been to communicate ideas about the modern world in the most accessible and humorous way possible, and I strive to create exciting art that will always make you think. The quirkiness and energy of Modernist design excites me and I aim to harness this dynamism whilst commenting on aspects of our own vastly altered world where the use of resources far outweighs our ability to dispose of them sustainably. I exhibit my work regularly and have work in a number of Permanent Collections in the UK.

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