Contents
| This theme includes example sections and will be revised and added to as we proceed. Suggestions for additions, improvements and the correction of factual errors are always appreciated.
Status: Collect > Document > Analyse > Improve |
230.01 Scientific > Mental illness
   
Hugh Welch Diamond used photography as an addition to the patient records that he kept in his role as superintendent of the female department of Surrey County Asylum in the UK.
230.02 Scientific > The Physiognomy of Insanity, by Dr. Conolly. Photographs taken from Life. By Dr. Diamond (1858)
About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
   
Dr. John Conolly published a series of thirteen papers on the Physiognomy of Insanity, in the Medical Times and Gazette. Twelve of the articles included illustrations based on photographs by Hugh Welch Diamond.
230.03 Scientific > Insane asylum patients (1870s)
  
This series of portraits of Louisa Blaney, Caroline Nightingale and Elizabeth Tappenden taken by an unknown photographer, probably British, are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
230.04 Scientific > James Crichton-Browne: West Riding Lunatic Asylum, Wakefield, Yorkshire, Great Britain
  
230.05 Scientific > Albert Londe: Female patients with mental illness
About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
  
230.06 Scientific > Jean-Philippe Charbonnier: Psychiatric hospitals (1954)
About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
                        
In 1954 Jean-Philippe Charbonnier documented French Psychiatric hospitals and this exhibition includes rarely seen photographs from the series.
Some of the photographs were first published in Réalités in January 1955. Here a selection of the original reportage is shown followed by the magazine layouts - published in the magazine with two fluffy cats on the cover. It is interesting to see that a number of most powerful images were not published due to the sensitivities of the 1950s and that the eyes of the patients are at times masked to protect their identities.
In 2006 a 24 page booklet Jean-Philippe Charbonnier: HP hôpitaux psychiatriques was published by Le traitement contemporain n°4 in conjunction with gallery Agathe Gaillard.
230.07 Scientific > W. Eugene Smith: Man of Mercy (1954)
About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
    
Magnum photographer W. Eugene Smith went to document the charitable work of Dr. Albert Schweitzer. In the photography Stockade for the Insane It is what we do not see that scares us the most - in the 1954 photo reportage Man of Mercy by W. Eugene Smith on Albert Schweitzer that was published in LIFE magazine the caption explains but what remains unseen is left entirely to our imagination.
230.08 Scientific > Diane Arbus: Book covers
About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
   
230.09 Scientific > Joy Christiansen: Family Gathering
About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
                     
Artist statement - Joy Christiansen
In today’s culture, negative body image and eating disorders are increasingly common. This is influenced by an overabundance of visual representations that occur in film, television and mass print media promoting dieting, thinness, and the objectification of women’s bodies. In response to this trend, Family Gathering, a photo-based installation, presents the harsh reality of the disorder through personal interviews of both individual sufferers and from their family members and friends.
In this exhibition, a room full of furniture is arranged in the format of a typical upper-middle class living room in the United States. Each piece of furniture is adorned with photographic imagery and text from the personal interviews. The combination of furniture, photography and text is used to initiate dialogue about this difficult and important subject. The comfortable and familiar veneer of the furniture serves as a welcome invitation to the viewer. Once the subtle imagery and text become visible, anonymous stories are revealed through each piece of furniture, bringing the room to life.
alan@luminous-lint.com |
General reading
Burns, Stanley, 2006, Patients & Promise: A Photographic History of Mental & Mood Disorders, (Burns Press) isbn-10: 097644951X [4 volumes in slipcase] [Δ]
Burns, Stanley, 2007, Seeing Insanity: Photography & The Depiction of Mental Illness, (Burns Press) isbn-10: 0976449552 [Δ]
Conolly, John, 1858, 16 January, ‘The Physiognomy of Insanity. No. 2—Suicidal Melancholy‘, Medical Times and Gazette, vol.16, pp.56-58 [Includes illustrations based on photographs by Hugh Welch Diamond] [Δ]
Conolly, John, 1858, 2 January, ‘The Physiognomy of Insanity, No. 1—Religious Melancholy‘, Medical Times and Gazette, vol.16 [Includes illustrations based on photographs by Hugh Welch Diamond] [Δ]
Conolly, John, 1858, 6 March, ‘The Physiognomy of Insanity, No. 4 - Melancholia passing on to Mania‘, Medical Times and Gazette, vol.16 [Includes a woodcut by Orrin Smith.] [Δ]
Conolly, John, 1858-1859, The Physiognomy of Insanity, (London: John Churchill) [A series of thirteen papers on the Physiognomy of Insanity, in the Medical Times and Gazette. Twelve of the articles Included illustrations based on photographs by Hugh Welch Diamond] [Δ]
Gilman, Sander (ed.), 1976, The Face of Madness: Hugh W. Diamond and the Origin of Psychiatric Photography, (Brunner/Mazel) [Δ]
Gilman, Sander L., 1882, Seeing the Insane, (NY: John Wiley in association with Brunner/Mazel) [Δ]
Gilman, Sander L., 1976, ‘Hugh W. Diamond and Psychiatric Photography‘, in Gilman, Sander (ed.), The Face of Madness: Hugh W. Diamond and the Origin of Psychiatric Photography [Δ]
Readings on, or by, individual photographers
David Maisel
Maisel, David, 2008, Library of Dust, (Chronicle Books) isbn-10: 0811863336 isbn-13: 978-0811863339 [Δ]
Mary Ellen Mark
Mark, Mary Ellen, 2008, Ward 81, (Damiani) isbn-10: 8862080557 isbn-13: 978-8862080552 [Text by K. Jacobs] [Δ]
If you feel this list is missing a significant book or article please let me know - Alan - alan@luminous-lint.com
Diane Arbus (1923-1971) • Jean-Philippe Charbonnier (1921-2004) • Joy Christiansen • Hugh Welch Diamond (check) • Claudio Edinger • Albert Londe (1858-1917) • David Maisel • Mary Ellen Mark (1940-) | Home > Themes > Scientific > Medical > Mental health and psychiatry
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