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Exhibits and lectures

Current and upcoming events

Exhibition

Impossible pathologies: re-fragmenting the archive

October 12 - December 12, 2017
Vernissage: October 12, 2017, 5:30 - 7:00 pm at the Osler Library of the History of Medicine Impossible pathology illustration

2016 Larose-Osler-Artist-in-Residence Dr. Lucy Lyons spent time in the Osler Library archives studying the illustrations made by the English physician and medical writer, Robert Hooper. Inspired by Hooper’s method of cutting out parts of his drawings like the analogue version of Photoshop, Lyons created her own fantastic collaged composites. This composite method was then transferred into studies of the collections in the Maude Abbott Medical Museum to create new, impossible pathologies. This exhibition is an exploration of the beauty of the fragment which is synonymous with pathology. If pathology is the fractured, broken, diseased, deformed fragment of the human body, this work explores the further fracturing, breaking and then re-assembling of parts.

Dr. Lucy Lyons received her PhD from Sheffield Hallam University. Her practice focuses on drawing within medical museums and working collaboratively to explore the beauty of collections. She is especially interested in the hidden, the overlooked, insignificant or in-between. This residency will allow her to push and explore her own practice and develop work in new ways whilst bringing new audiences to the collections.

The Michele Larose – Osler Library Artist-in-Residence award, is given annually to one or more deserving candidates with a degree in Studio Arts or a related field and/or a history of exhibiting artistic work in professional venues.

Recent events

The Gendered Cultures of Beer and Cheese: the Regulation of Human and Microbial Bodies on the Home and Industrial Scales, 1616 - 2017, September 11 - October 2, 2017
Vaccination: Fame, Fear and Controversy, 1798-1998, January 2017 - August 2017
A History of Neuro-Oncology: Candaian Savoir Faire, a talk by Dr. Rolando Del Maestro, MD, PhD, William Feindel Emeritus Professor in Neuro-Oncology, Director of McGill Neurosurgical Simulation Research and Training Centre. This talk encouraged discussion surrounding ideas and individuals that have shaped the world of neuro-oncology, while placing emphasis on Canadian neuro-oncology research. Attendees were encouraged to prepare a ‘Canadian Neuro-Oncology Minute’ that highlighted an individual’s contributions to historical and/or current advancements in Canada and received an autographed copy of Dr. Rolando Del Maestro’s book A History of Neuro-Oncology (2008).
Rural Medicine in 20th Century Quebec: Stories and Devices, curated by Dr. Richard Fraser, Laura Sang, Joan O’Malley, Marc Provost, Jerry Xie, Meriem Bounnab and Lucy Luo. October 2016 - January 2017.
Knowing Blood: Medical Observations, Fluid Meanings, curated by Darren N. Wagner and Nick Whitfield. January-September 2016.
Sanitizing Style: Germ Theory and Fashion at the Turn of the Century, curated by Cynthia Tang and Anna Dysert. September-December 2015.
On the Surface/Skin Deep, curated by Sylvie Boisjoli and and Shana Cooperstein. Read exhibition talks from the curators in the spring 2015 issue of the Osler Library Newsletter (no. 122). Follow link to an interview with the curators on our blog.
The Literature of Prescription: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and The Yellow Wallpaper. A Biography of Neurasthenia in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Curated by Prof. Andrea Tone. September - April 2014.
Designing Doctors: an exhibit talk by Professor Annmarie Adams, McGill School of Architecture. Tuesday, 7 May 2013, 1:00-2:00, Meakins Auditorium (5th floor McIntyre Medical Sciences Building).
"Neurological Laboratories” to Interdisciplinary “Centres of Brain Research”: Otfrid Foerster, Wilder Penfield, and Early Neuroscience in Breslau and Montreal. Nickerson Fellowship talk by Dr. Frank Stahnisch, Thursday, 2 May 2013, 2:00 - 3:00, Don Bates Seminar Room 101, Department of Social Studies of Medicine, McGill University, 3647 Peel Street.
Artistic Practice Scientific Vision: British Artistic Anatomy in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineetenth Century, the catalogue to the exhibit curated by Dr. Allister Neher.
Our Friend the Sun: Images of Light Therapeutics from the Osler Library Collection, 1901-1944, a lecture given by Dr. Tania Anne Woloshyn (Recorded January 24, 2011). This recording is made possible by a generous gift from Gail Beck, O.Ont., Med’78 and Andrew Fenus, MLS’74.
Osler Library Lecture: A Relationship Etched in Time: Leonardo da Vinci, the Earl of Arundel and Wenceslaus Hollar, a lecture given by Dr. Del Maestro (Recorded January 10, 2011). This recording is made possible by a generous gift from Gail Beck, O.Ont., Med’78 and Andrew Fenus, MLS’74.
Our Friend, the Sun: Images of Light Therapeutics from the Osler Library Collection, 1901-1944, the catalogue to the exhibit curated by Dr. Tania Anne Woloshyn.