Customer Reviews

The Mutter Museum: Of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have long been a fan and frequent visitor to the Mutter Museum, and the items in it's collection have served and continue to serve as inspiration for my work. The late Gretchen Worden was most generous in allowing me access to some of the 'behind the scenes' items I am delighted to find included in this book.

Anyone who has come across one of the famous Mutter Museum calendars will be familiar with the beautiful photographs from the likes of Rosamond Purcell, Joel-Peter Witkin, Max Aquilera-Hellweg, etc. -- and if not, this is the ideal opportunity to experience them. However, for me it is the archival photos from the bowels (ahem!) of the Mutter's storage rooms that are the real treasures here -- many of which have never been published before. In spite of their generally more clinical nature, these photographs of patients and odd medical conditions often acheive a level of artistry equal to the efforts of the featured contemporary photographers.

The images are complemented by an engaging preface and essay by Ms. Worden, discussing not only the reasons why artists are drawn to the Mutter's collections, but also how these 'pathological treasures' came together under the roof of the College of Physicians.

If this book has a fault, it is that there isn't more of it! Although Ms. Worden is no longer with us, I hope that someone else will step up to create future volumes in what I hope will become long series. There is certainly ample material in the Mutter collection yet to explore.

This beautifully designed, researched and photographed monograph is one of the most interesting journeys you'll likely encounter in the volumes of art and photography books. Though not well known to the regular museum-visiting public, the Mutter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia is a richly rewarding sanctuary for the many forms of medical aberrations that have been collected since the museum's founding in 1858. Housed in this museum are over 20,000 specimens, photographs, paintings and molds of patients and organs and remnants of the lives of people born with deformities, better described as variations from the norm. It is much to the credit of director Gretchen Worden that she not only preserved this fine collection, but that she had the foresight to invite many of our finest photographers to enter this domain of the bizarre and create formal portraits of the materials there contained.

Devotees of medical history, as well as those fascinated by the people from the past who made their living as part of 'freak side shows' in a time less compassionate than now, will find in this book some of the best renderings of nature's spectrum of anomalies. Add to this plethora of model material the genius of such photographers as Joel Peter Witkin and the result is a collection of photographs so bizarre they defy credibility. But real they are, and each specimen is presented with dignity and quality of format. There are even descriptions of the etiology of some of the photographed abnormalites and a fine essay by Gretchen Worden, explaining the purpose of the museum, the monograph and the stimulus for the production of this fine body of photographs.

There may be those that shy away from viewing variations from normal because of the backlash of the previous century's condemnation of 'voyeurism'. Rest assured that this is a volume that maintains the dignity of the body and does not sensationalize these variations as grotesqueries. Sensitivity prevails. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, March 05

I often find that books that try to be two things at once don't really make it as either, and this is a case in point. I thought it might be a book ABOUT the Mutter Museum and the exhibits there, but it's not really, it's a book of artsy photographs that happen to be taken at the museum. However, it then includes bits and pieces of medicine and medical history, but never enough to really give you any perspective or answer questions you might have about the pictures. There is a section at the end that is straight writing without photos, but it's ALSO a muddled mess---a thrown together hodge-podge of history and only one, for some reason, case study. I don't think the medical information was that well edited, as I read with surprise that now babies born as early as the 3rd month of gestation can survive outside the womb! Wow! I bet that will be news to many OB/GYNs!

Maybe I don't know enough about art photography, but I found the photos underwhelming. Many were not really focused. There were often more than one of the same exhibit, from different angles, and for some reason in different places in the book. The most jarring photos to me were not the sad ones of horrible deformities but the ones with the dogs of William Wegman posing with such things as a preserved diseased foot. WHY? I felt it was really a blow to the dignity of the people that gave their body parts to science.

The best part of the book to me was the older photos, taken in the 19th century, which gave dignity to their subjects, and the pictures of wax models. They were so much more straightforward and clear than the other photos.

Overall, not worth the money. I hope someone at some point does a different book about this museum.

The objects and images in Mutter Museum are obviously fascinating and I can see that even though most of the photographs of them in this book are truly tiresome.

To quote another review I read on the book "the archival photos from ...the Mutter's storage rooms that are the real treasures here.... In spite of their generally more clinical nature, these photographs of patients and odd medical conditions often achieve a level of artistry equal to the efforts of the featured contemporary photographers. "

I disagree. The old clinical photographs are far more interesting than the " featured contemporary photographers" Why? Because the ' featured contemporary photographers' just tried to hard to be interesting. They didn't let that objects etc speak for themselves. I don't need to see the photographers pet dog posed with the human foot in a jar. I don't want to look at the 'infant skeleton with club feet' with its feet artfully cut out of the frame. I want to look at a photograph of something as interesting a preserved head in focus...not shot in a meaningful out of focus way.

If you don't have the calendars, this is an excellent way to get some of the delightfully artistic photographs of the creepy exhibits at the Mütter Museum. My primary complaint is that the text is often a bit short on detail, but it could very well be that not that much is known about some of the specimens. Also, the lack of photographs of some of the most interesting exhibits - such as the Soap Lady and the Giant Colon - is annoying, especially since they don't let you take pictures yourself at the museum. But there are more than enough fascinating photographs to make this a worthwhile addition to morbid coffee tables everywhere!

First off- this book is no comparison to the actual Mutter Museum in Philly which houses probably the best collection of human anomalies in history. There are not only pictures, models, and wax figures but human skeletons (think the like of elephant man, siamese twins, horned and fanged heads and faces)of people that were amazingly endowed? or cursed?. The book is a glimpse at some of the highlights of the museum's unique array and a commentary on the human body and its amazing attributes. Ms. Worden does an excellent job with simple pictures and short descriptions that capture the uniquity of her job as director of this museum. Even if you tend to be weak-kneed or feign at the ideas of the abnormal, its hard not to be glued to these pictures and appreciate them. Ms. Worden who would have been thrilled at the turn out of this book sadly passed away a couple years ago but she was a warm face in the midst of the absurd but endearing. Hats off to her and this great book.

Gretchen Worden, The Mutter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (Blast, 2002)

Gretchen Worden has been the director of the Mutter Museum for over twenty years now. One of the best things that's happened under her rule has been the institution of the Mutter Museum Calendar in 1994. Since then (and in rare cases before), photographers and fine artists have been coming to the school in record numbers. Here, Worden collects the best of their works, along with a couple of light introductory essays, into a collection of great beauty, but always with a hint of revulsion to it.

There are certainly some surprises; one expects to find, say, Joel-Peter Witkin's work here, but not that of William Wegman (the weimaraner guy). Most of the photographs here are simple pictures of things that reside in the museum, but some arrange them interestingly, or come up with some weird, Witkin-esque setting, turning the pictures into true fascinating grotesqueries.

Must be seen to be believed (Weimeraners as Chang and Eng? Brilliant!). ****

I visited this museum last year with my husband after hearing about it on the discovery channel. I received this book as a gift for Christmas. The museum is just amazing if you ever get the chance to visit, its just a ton of amazing medical maladies and specimens. The wall of skulls is probably my favorite area in the museum itself. I thought the book was well done but obviously doesn't hold a candle to the actual museum. It is a good representation for those who are unable to go and actually explore the museum.

I've never had the pleasure of visiting the Mutter Museum in spite of what seems like a lifelong dream of doing just that, so finding out that this book of photographs was available was a wonderful thing.

The pictures included in this beautiful coffee-table book are, without question, amazing. Haunting, eerie and even beautiful...yes, beautiful. From cutaneous horns to conjoined twins to rare diseases, all of these are covered with meticulous detail and respect in this book and turned into objects of beauty, not of morbid fascination.

Mutter Museum: Of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia is amazing and worth every penny of the purchase price.

Some photographs are very interesting, but space was wasted on several exhibits being shown more than once - sometimes more than twice; most of these repetitions aren't really worthy of more than one photograph.

In order to fully appreciate the scanty captions (every picture has a caption but not much of one), more than cursory knowledge of medical terminology is required; otherwise, a medical dictionary would be helpful.

At the risk of showing my ignorance, I thought that the Mutter Museum was almost strictly abnormal medical exhibits. I didn't realize that there were so many graphic examples of human anatomy - hence, the three stars instead of two; this book gives a nicely rounded "tour" of the museum.

If possible, I would strongly suggest checking this book out from a library before buying it without flipping through it.