Painting, Poetry, and Medicine: Charles Demuth and William Carlos Williams
The special exhibit entitled Stieglitz and His Artists which recently closed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art had on view an American masterwork which was the fruit of collaboration between a physician-poet and a painter. The name of the painting is “I saw the Figure 5 in Gold” by Charles Demuth, and his collaborator was William Carlos Williams. Charles Demuth was born in Lancaster, PA …Read More
Photographing Los Ancianos of Bolivia
This past summer I returned to South America to photograph aging, and one of these photos is featured on the December cover of The Gerontologist. This is the flagship journal of the Gerontological Society of America. I am often asked about my “TG” cover photos (there’s been about 40 since 1995), so I decided to give some background on this picture. My destination was La Paz, …Read More
The Corpus Callosum, Buddha’s Enlightenment, and the Neurologic Basis for Creativity
My goal is to combine medicine and art, so I’ve thought a lot about the neurobiology of creativity. The corpus callosum is the thick bundle of 200 million nerve fibers that forms the communication network between the left brain and right brain. The left brain is the seat of rationality, science, and math, while the right brain gives us our intuition and artistic expression. Neuroscientists have …Read More
Geriatrics, Art, and Ancient Treasure on Lake Titicaca
I recently traveled to the Bolivian highlands and Lake Titicaca to find new faces of aging, and on the way discovered an exquisite example of ancient treasure featuring geriatrics and art. The Pariti Ceramics Museum was not listed in my guidebook. In fact, Pariti Island where the museum is located is so small it is unmarked on most maps. I learned out about it from my …Read More
Aging Across America Goes to Sturgis
The elderly grandmother struggled to get her leg over the saddle of her Harley, and looked up at me a bit chagrined. “I just had my knee replaced and still having some trouble,” she said. The event was Sturgis, perhaps the largest motorcycle rally in America, and this lady was one of hundreds of older cycle enthusiasts, some of whom have been coming every year for decades. …Read More
Aging Inside Angola State Penitentiary
In November 2010 I photographed aging prisoners in Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana. After the GSA meeting in New Orleans I drove 150 miles through the wetlands, past Baton Rouge, then north up Highway 66. The facility was surrounded by 12-foot razor-topped chain link fences and sentry towers, and before passing through the gates, armed guards searched my car. After entering the facility I had …Read More
Aging Rock ‘n Rollers Take Manhattan’s West Side
The aromas of ganja and patchouli wafted across Broadway near the Beacon Theater Friday night, as the concert celebrating Wavy Gravy’s 75th birthday was about to begin. Born with the name Hugh Romney, he was onstage at Woodstock in 1969 and announced, “What we have in mind is breakfast in bed for 400,000!” Since his Woodstock days, Wavy has maintained a philosophy of community activism, founding …Read More
Will Barnet: Artist and Centenarian
Will Barnet, an American artist living in New York City, will turn 100 years old next month. I had the opportunity to photograph him recently in his home and studio in the National Arts Club in Gramercy Park. His paintings and drawings are in every major museum in the United States, and he is still making art. Experts have studied the mysteries of artistic creativity …Read More
The Faces of a Generation Deserve Attention
An Essay by Dr. Jerry Winakur [This essay written by author and physician Jerry Winakur is reprinted with permission from Caring for the Ages, a publication of the American Medical Directors Association. Dr. Winakur is Clinical Professor of Medicine at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio where my exhibit, Aging Across America, was shown this past winter in the Briscoe Library.] For the …Read More
15 Years of Covers on The Gerontologist
This video explores my photographic work that has appeared on the cover of The Gerontologist (TG) over the past 15 years. The Gerontologist is published by Oxford University Press, and is the flagship journal of the Gerontological Society of America, and is devoted to multidisciplinary research and education in all aspects of aging. I started publishing photos on TG back in 1996. The subjects include friends, teachers, …Read More
