Stanford Goes Hands-On with Rodins
Stanford University surgeon Dr. James Chang is fascinated by Rodin's hands. He has developed and is teaching a course titled "Surgical Anatomy of the Hand: From Rodin to Reconstruction" in which he combines 3D scans of the sculpture with medical imaging of human bones, nerves, and blood vessels. Currently Stanford's Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for the Arts is featuring a collaboration between Dr. Chang and its Curator of European Art, Bernard Barryte. Inside Rodin’s Hands: Art, Technology, and Surgery, on view at the museum until August 3, explores Rodin's hands as art and as science. In the exhibition Chang and his students describe the medical conditions that inform each of the hands. Rodin was fascinated by the expressive capacity of hands and he often exhibited them apart from the rest of the body. Although art scholars have long been interested in the medical issues of some of Rodin's hands,...
