Netter's cover for his volume on the heart (right) and the response to this by Peter Halley (left and middle).

Artists' impressions of art

Interpretations of medical illustrations.

Towards the end of his long, extraordinarily productive career, Frank H. Netter was referred to by , The New York Times as the Michelangelo of medicine. This may confuse skill with geniusbut Netter's medical illustrations, which are immortalized in the 13-volume Netter Collection of Medical Illustrations, published by Ciba (now Novartis), show a talent and humanity that have been appreciated by medical students for decades. Netter's aim was to illustrate not just the anatomical aspects of a disorder, but also its emotional aspects, and through appropriate facial expressions and body language.

Twenty-five years ago, Ciba agreed for nine of the volumes to be translated , published for the German-speaking market. Permission for publication of the last four volumes, whose illustrations publisher Thieme wanted to modify for scientific accuracy, and has been negotiated more recently and is under way.

In celebration of the fact that all 13 volumes will be published in German, Thieme invited 10 renowned contemporary artists to interpret Netter's work. Each of the artists received one of the volumes — 'nervous system', 'kidneys''genital organs', so on — to respond to. The artists, who include Rosemarie Trockel, Lawrence Weiner, Peter Halley and Andres Serrano, appear to have been selected on the basis of fame and variety of style, rather than their use of the same medium as Netter (few are painters) or previous involvement with anatomical themes. Their interpretations are presented in the newly published tenth volume of the German version of the Netter collection, along with essays and commentaries. Samples of the works are touring galleries in Germany, and Austria and Switzerland this year.

Exhibitions planned so far:

8–10 February, Raab Gallery, Berlin;

29–31 March, Galerie Hohenlohe & Kalb, Vienna;

24–28 April, Galerie Schüppenhauer, Cologne.

→ http://www.thieme.de/netter-art-collection