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To study anatomy, many artists dissected the dead to better depict the living. "The Quick and the Dead" focuses on a range of artists from Leonardo da Vinci to Cindy Sherman to show the great richness and complexity that can result when art and science intersect. The drawings, prints, photographs, and objects in this book span five centuries and mark numerous cultural shifts, yet their imagery is as powerful today as when they were created. 92 illustrations, 31 in color.

"...despite the book's sins of omission and the usual barnacle covering of academic jargon, 'The Quick and the Dead' rewards the patient reader. Petherbridge uncovers marvelous morsels of historical fact, such as the surreal tale of the 18th-century anatomist who dissected a 'perfectly' classically proportioned body, then strung it up on pulleys like a grotesque marionette and puppeteered it into various poses for an artist to sketch. She's especially engaging on the long-standing association of anatomical and erotic imagery, epitomized by 'anatomical Venuses' like the shapely little 18th-19th­century figurine whose belly opens like a pocket watch to reveal the fetus in utero...."

Mark Dery, Voice Literary Supplement, November 1998

The Quick and the Dead: Artists and Anatomy: Search Results