Judith Tyler Hills has shared this fascinating account of what inspires her art, particularly items from her collection of medical instruments and equipment!

SHAPES, CURES AND QUACKS

An enduring fascination with shapes and form colours the way I see and represent the world around me. From the magnificence of mountains, cliffs and crashing waves to the leafy splendour of pines, the lattice work of branches and the delicate veining of leaves.

While the immense variety of shapes in the natural world never ceases to inspire me, it has been an abiding love affair with the structures and shapes of the built environment which has dominated much of my early work: writing and painting stimulated by a childhood spent amongst the “pot banks” (giant industrial kilns) the black man-made mountains of the slag heaps and graceful pit-head machinery, industrial cranes and the shimmering sizzling heat from the blast furnace at Shelton Bar.

All of which brings me to my next passion and the subject of many of my latest paintings. During a working lifetime spent in health and research, I have amassed an amazing collection of medical memorabilia….more than enough for a small museum. And as always it was the shapes as much as appreciating the history which initially attracted me.

Some, robust and forbidding forged in gleaming stainless steel, slender silver catheters (a metal known to be less invasive to the body) and beautifully shaped and exquisitely delicate ophthalmic instruments. Overall the collection bears testimony to human endeavour and experimentation, developing science and some downright quackery; the stuff of snake oil salesmen, faith healing and the trappings of pseudo science.

A FESTIVAL OF SHAPE AND FORM

This series of paintings is inspired by an extensive collection of antique medical instruments and assorted paraphernalia; some of significant historical interest, eg. celebrating the early recognition of “germ theory” or the development of electrochemistry and electromagnetism in the use of Faradic* stimulation, and some of it out right quackery.
Each of these still life compositions tells their own story. I hope the brief accompanying notes will help to encapsulate some of this.

The use of fire in the history of health care, from the flame used to heat substances to “cure” all manner of infectious diseases to that used to vaporise pungent chemicals to disinfect and fumigate the sickroom following fever, and before the use of chemical reagent strips, the flame of the Bunsen burner used to heat samples of urine to test for the presence of albumin. Over time attempts were made to use a variety of chemicals including chlorine, hydrogen peroxide, mercury, flowers of sulphur and even domestic vinegar!

These two gadgets depicted are antique fumigation/vaporisation items. The first, a Baroque fantasia of form and decoration made of heavy metal coated with gold lacquer. It is inconceivable how this could ever have been sterilised! The second is a later iteration, the cleaner lines and steel and glass construction reflecting a more modern ideation of clinical efficiency. However, this is still pseudo science at best The fumigation substance would be applied, often sprayed onto furniture and fittings and the room sealed with heavy duty tape over doorways and window frames. The internal spirit lamp would be lit, and the equipment placed on a window ledge facing outwards. When the flame was no longer visible behind the magnifying lenses of the equipment, the wick would have burnt right down and the room was deemed to be safe to re enter.

SUBJUGATION

Pictured, a pair of obstetric forceps. Visually arresting in shape and size; this set is 38 cm in length and weighty with it; manufactured from heavy duty stainless steel. An item of equipment which epitomises the juxtaposition of power and weakness: the authority wielded by powerful men ( and so often in the past it was predominantly men) over women at their most vulnerable. This was an intervention always deemed in the best interest of mother and child; the mother frequently overawed and above all frightened, wanting only the safety of her unborn child. (The desired outcome shared by those administering the treatment.)

SPOILS OF WAR

Field army instruments from captured German military medical personnel. This equipment was often of a far superior quality to that issued here and consequently was a much sought after addition to the kit carried by British medical staff.

SPOILT BY WAR

A field army amputation set including retractors, chisel, bone saws, and hand drill, with the ominous “stump dressing affording little protection against the ever present danger of infection.

CROUP

A steam kettle used to ease respiratory distress in infants. Damp sheets over the cots would retain the steam, prolonging its effectiveness, depicted here in a children’s ward (circa 1950) at night, when the prevailing condition always seemed so much worse. The ward lights are shrouded in the ubiquitous theatre green linen cloth, secured by a nappy pin of the time. Health & Safety concerns were not a commonplace feature of hospital life then!

SENSORY 1 & 2

SENSORY 1 OPTICAL

A veritable cornucopia of shapes and colours among the various optical accoutrements: lenses, glass eyes, magnets to remove shards of metal ( a common industrial injury in the north even as recently as the 1960s, as were lime burns to the cornea due to the use of lime in plaster and slaked lime on farms) hence the constant use of assorted medical “eye baths” and the elegantly shaped undine.

SENSORY 2 AUDITORY

From the shiny silver plate to the Barbie-pink plastic of the cumbersome early hearing aids, the huge ear syringes and shaped containers to catch the warm water used in the removal of ear wax to the comforting permanence of the stainless steel tuning fork, shapes, colours and contours abound.

CUTTING EDGE

Early barber surgeons as their title implies were no strangers to the cutting edge of their trade. Here we have a collection of scalpels, knives, chisels and saws and a cut throat razor. (the latter widely used by nurses performing preoperative shaves… I have known grown men quail at the sight!

ALCHEMY TOO

An array of very dated urine testing equipment, Glass jars, test tubes, hydrometers, Bunsen burner and reagent instructions.

PRIVACY INVADED

A selection of silver catheters probes and vintage stainless steel anal dilators and a vaginal speculum

STIMULATION

Faradic probes and muscle massagers, harnessing the power of electricity to stimulates under active muscles…a therapy which has undergone numerous iterations and which still forms the basis for some forms of treatment today.

The second item, a “manual blood stimulator” has a much more dubious claim to efficacy. Basically consisting of a wooden handle turning a disc which is applied externally in an attempt to increase blood flow and promote the destruction of toxins in the system.

* Michael Faraday… physicist and chemist whose seminal work on electromagnetism and electrolysis formed the basis for widespread applications in science and industry. The SI unit of capacitance is named the farad in recognition of his outstanding contributions to knowledge.