Sunday 17 October 2010

The Illustrated Family Doctor, 1935











Images from The Illustrated Family Doctor, London, 1935. I love these pictures, I find them both quaint and poetic. And they make me think of the work of the Belgian artist Michael Borremans, which is always a bonus.

9 comments:

helicopter6 said...

Ohh... these are absolutely brilliant Sandra. Love love love!

jen storer said...

Whoa! They're brilliant! Slightly sinister in some cases though. What's with the kiddies in the steel vats? It's all a bit City of Lost Children to my mind. And the posture pic has made me sit up straight! jxx

rigel said...

I thoroughly enjoyed this post. I'm just so fascinated with old timey medicine in all it's forms. What is he up to with that rod, I wonder? Reminds me of my Dad's wonderfully creepy old D.I.Y dentistry books.

swinkie said...

Amazing pictures... and so is Michael Borreman's work!

Sandra Eterovic said...

I'm so glad that you all like them -- I like them more every time I look at them; I think they're remarkable. And I purposely left any explanations out so that the images could speak on their own.

Jen, the kids in the vats are having muscular therapy, poor loves. Yes, I agree it does look really strange.

Rigel -- that rod is for electric shock therapy.

Medicine was clearly pretty advanced in the 1930's but I am pretty happy that it has gone alot further since!

helicopter6 said...

Slightly sinister is indeed what this era (and earlier) was all about, I loved researching this type of stuff when i was studying sculpture in uni (go figure!). As Rigel said, her Dad's DIY dentistry books were in the same zone... did you say DIY???!!! Yee-oww. But as creepy as they are, they're fascinating.

Sandra Eterovic said...

Me too, I find this stuff irresistible. Vicarious pleasure, knowing that we are in safer hands in 2010 -- we hope?
Hmmm...my father, having been an army dental assistant in the early 1960's, has been known to trim his front teeth using a file, and I don't mean the sort that you keep paper in.

helicopter6 said...

Hooly dooly... I guess that's one way of doing it! In safer hands in 2010?... I think it's just all got very very tiny.

swinkie said...

Safer today! Well I got some stories I could tell....

Thanks SE for all your great comments on my blog... and yes you will have to come to Sleeping Beauties on the 4th!! SW