Dr. Frank Netter & the Artists
Who
Carry On His Work
 |
Click on any of the links below for a short biography of the artist: |
Frank H. Netter, M.D. (1906-1991)
View Large Portrait of Dr. Netter at Work
Frank H. Netter, M.D., is celebrated as the foremost medical
illustrator of the human organism and how it works. There are few people
in medicine today who have not learned from this master of medical illustration.
Like all great artists, Frank Netter was always drawing pictures, even in childhood.
He studied at the National Academy of Design in New York and later at the Art
Students' League, as well as with several private teachers. By the mid-1920s
he was a successful commercial artist, contributing to, among other publications,
the Saturday Evening Post, Esquire, and The New York Times.
Despite his success as a commercial artist, Netter's mother persuaded
him to follow a more "serious" career, and by 1933 he completed
a residency in surgery at Bellevue Hospital. In the mid-1930s, however,
medical illustration was gaining recognition in the United States,
and Dr. Netter again pursued his passion for illustration and quickly
joined the ranks of great medical artists.
Dr. Netter believed that medical illustrations play a vital role in teaching
as well as in the development of a medical specialty, such as surgery. Clarity
in illustration was his primary and ultimate goal; no matter how beautifully
painted, a picture had little value to him if it did not make clear a medical
point. His paintings are forcefully instructive and easily comprehensible,
and he has left a gold mine of illustrations for teaching purposes.
Dr. Netter's association with the Ciba Pharmaceutical Company began in the
1930s, when he began painting pictures to convey information about new products
to the medical profession. The demand for these lifelike renderings of major
organs and their pathology prompted their publication in a book in 1948.
This first collection of medical illustrations received such an enthusiastic
reception by the medical profession that Ciba was encouraged to expand the
program by creating a series of volumes that would portray the anatomy and
pathology of all systems of the human organism. Thus was born the monumental
project, The Netter Collection of Medical Illustrations, the
first volume of which was published in 1953 and the last in 1993, spanning
40 years of Dr. Netter's career. Other Netter publications include Clinical
Symposia, a quarterly clinical monograph dealing with a specific medical
topic, and the Atlas of Human Anatomy, which fast became the
best-selling anatomy atlas in the medical professions.
Today, after more than 50 years at the forefront of his profession, the late
Dr. Frank H. Netter is acknowledged as the most famous medical illustrator
in the world.
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John Craig's association with Netter dates back to 1972,
when he began working with Ciba Pharmaceuticals to create new art work
for Clinical Symposia (celebrating in 1998 its 50th year
of continuous publication).
Following in the Netter tradition, Dr. Craig is now Senior Artist and Consultant
for Clinical Symposia, and is a contributor to the NovaCON:
Disease Education Series (CD-ROM) as well as the Netter Collection
of Medical Illustrations.
Dr. Craig leads and guides the team of medical illustrators. He received his
medical degree and a postgraduate degree in ophthalmology from The University
of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston. He presently works out of his studio in
Austin, Texas.
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Carlos Guimaraes Machado, M.D.
Carlos Guimaraes Machado is the newest medical illustrator
to join the Netter team. Dr. Machado is a regular contributor to Clinical
Symposia and has contributed to the Netter Collection of
Medical Illustrations. Examples of his work may also be seen
in the NovaCON: Disease Education Series (CD-ROM) and the
highly acclaimed Interactive Atlas of Clinical Anatomy (CD-ROM).
Most recently, Dr. Machado created all-new cross-sectional anatomy plates
for the Second Edition of Dr. Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy,
having also contributed meticulous updates to many of Dr. Netter's original
plates. Dr. Machado received his medical degree at the Faculdade de medicina
de Teresopolis and his postgraduate degree in cardiology from Santa Casa
de Misericordia in Rio de Janeiro. Before coming to the United States,
Dr. Machado was in private cardiology practice in Rio de Janeiro. He
now resides in Austin, Texas.
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David Mascaro's history with Netter includes a close collaboration
with Dr. Netter himself in preparing illustrations for Musculoskeletal
System, Part III of the The Netter Collection of Medical
Illustrations.
Mr. Mascaro continues to be a frequent contributor to Clinical Symposia,
and was responsible for a fine set of illustrations included in Congestive
Heart Failure, the third module in the NovaCON: Disease Education
Series (CD-ROM).
Mr. Mascaro's work has been exhibited in Europe and Japan, in addition to the
United States. He holds an M.S. degree in medical illustration and is currently
Professor in the Medical Illustration Program at the Medical College of Georgia
in Augusta. Mr. Mascaro is a respected teacher, and many of his students have
established themselves as leading medical illustrators.
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