The Face of Medicine: Portraits, Cartoons and Scenes from the Osler Library Prints Collection

The exhibition of prints drawn from the recently digitized Osler Library Prints Collection of 2,500 images offers a fascinating look into the history of medicine through popular imagery. Portraits, which were typically produced by commission, construct an image of the doctor as an exceptional individual, projecting an aura of respectability and authority. Cartoons and scenes, however, offer a more satirical view, poking fun and critiquing medical men and their relationships with patients.

Straddling the disciplines of art and science, this exhibition draws together a variety of material that is rich in both historical significance and artistic merit. In doing so, it sheds light on the cultural process of identity construction: how the image of "the doctor" (both individual and collective) has been historically created through visual means.

The exhibition is guest curated by Chelsea E. Clarke, an art historian who recently catalogued the Osler Library's print collection.

Accessible Mondays-Fridays, 10am to 6pm. Free entrance.