The early drawings and prints of Santiago Ramón y Cajal: a visual epistemology of the neurosciences
- Autores: Miguel Ángel Rego Robles
- Localización: European Journal of anatomy, ISSN-e 1136-4890, Vol. 23, Nº. Extra 1 (Honoring Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934), an 'exemplary man'), 2019 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Supplement 1), págs. 57-66
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
- Dialnet Métricas: 3 Citas
-
Resumen
Santiago Ramón y Cajal created histological im-ages using a variety of artistic techniques and methods. In order to contextualise his practice, I have selected a set of drawings and prints of carti-lage cells that were used in Cajal’s reference handbooks. I then introduce a lithograph repre-senting an inflamed cartilage included in Cajal’s first publication. This technique enabled the pub-lishing of graphic information in colour. By review-ing images included in the material that Cajal con-sulted during his pre-graduate years, I show that he participated in the transnational production of drawing and made use of the printing techniques available to present his research.
By analysing a set of original drawings included in Cajal´s notebook, Diario de Observaciones, and his first published lithographs of cartilage cells and neurons, I reveal the graphic specificities of his transition from handmade drawings to print repre-sentations. Cajal´s drawing and lithographing re-late directly to artistic interests developed in his youth (López Piñero, 1985), and these skills facili-tated the technical transit between notebook and published images, enabling him to formalise his knowledge by including histological results in print-ed material. A determining factor in Cajal’s graphic production relating to the nervous system was his expertise in using chemical silver nitrate, resulting from his interest in photography. Finally, his colour selection is discussed, in order to demonstrate that, even when Cajal drew black lines, he was using black as a specific colour, one he observed through the microscope after staining histological samples.
