Recorded Lectures, Illustrated Essays, and Loads of Other Excusive New Content on our Patreon!

Dr. Alexander Cummins at the "Morbid Anatomy Revival Tent" at Green-Wood Cemetery's Night Fall. Photo: Maike Schulz

Over past few years, Morbid Anatomy has been producing exhibitions and programing with New York partners like historic Green-Wood Cemetery and Hauser and Wirth Gallery. Now, thanks to our Patreon, people from all over the world can virtually enjoy our often sold out lectures along with loads of other exclusive content!

Right now on our Patreon you will find video and audio recordings of dozens of our most popular lectures, a variety of illustrated essays by the Morbid Anatomy staff and community, and virtual tours of obscure locales (click here for a full list of contents). New pieces are added weekly, and we have many exciting offerings slotted for the days and months to come!

All of this content is available for only $5 a month. Supporters at higher levels also enjoy access to exclusive parties and events, free and discounted events, custom merchandise, and much more.

Your support on Patreon is, in essence, a virtual Morbid Anatomy membership. Your subscription fees underwrite our work producing the content, exhibitions, and events you love, as well as the commissioning of new content. It also helps foster the unique community we have cultivated since our launch in 2007. And, at only $60 a year, it also makes a great Christmas gift for your morbid, hard to shop for friends!

If you appreciate what we do, and enjoy learning about obscure and fascinating things, please consider becoming a Patreon member! Click here.

Below are just a very few of the video and audio recordings, illustrated articles by guest writers, and Morbid Anatomy original content you'll find nowhere else. Click here to see the full list and become a member.

Video Recordings of Illustrated Lectures

• Maria Sabina: Shaman, Curandera, Visionary Poet by Mexican poet and author Homero Aridjis
• Walter Potter Panel Discussion at the Adirondacks Experience with Ronni Thomas, Evan Michelson, Carol Holzner and Joanna Ebenstein
• Victorian Martians by Marc Harztman, author of American Sideshow
• "Haunted:" An Immersive Journey Through the Ghost Trains and Haunted Houses of the Northeast by photographer Lisa Kereszi
• Investigating the Supernatural: Scientific Quests to Colonize Hysterical Women and Psychic Mediums by Asti Hustvedt, author of Medical Muses
• Sacred Retablos of the Latin World, a Lecture and Show and Tell by Scholar/Collector Deborah Dwyer
• A Night of Folk Necromancy with Dr. Alexander Cummins, Jesse Hathaway Diaz, and Mallorie Vaudoise
• Placebos, Nocebos and Voodoo Medicine by neurology professor Mark W Green MD, FAAN
• Satan The Prophet: A History of Modern Satanism by Italian Scholar Massimo Introvigne
• Remedios Varo: Bruja with a Brush by author and curator Pam Grossman
• Female Freaks: Sex, Science & Sideshow by sideshow performer Ilise Carter
• In Heaven: On the Meaning of Magic in the Works of David Lynch by Stef Black
• The Doors of Platonic Perception by philosophy professor Dr James Rowe

Interviews and Virtual Tours

• Sublimi Anatomie: A New Exhibition Exploring Art and Anatomy Exhibition at Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome
• Epic Relics, "Vera Effigies," Wonder Working Madonnas, and Gruesome Crucifixions: A Virtual Visit to Prague's Fabulous Loreto Shrine
• A Virtual Tour of Philadelphia's Eye's Gallery of International Folk Art
• A Virtual Visit to the Cementerio General de Almudena of Cusco, Peru

Audio Recordings of Lectures

• Heaven as a Place on Earth: Reflections on the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the World to Come: Audio Recording of Lecture by Will Baker
• A Cultural History of Mescaline: Recorded Lecture by Mike Jay
• Babel Rousers: The 900-year Quest to Build a Better Language by Arika Okrent
• Book Talk for Honoring Your Ancestors: A Guide to Ancestral Veneration by Mallorie Vaudoise
• Fashion, Gender and the Feline Divine by Jo Weldon, Author of Fierce, A History of Leopard Print
• Dark Secrets Inside Bohemian Grove by Jon Ronson, This American Life contributor and author of The Psychopath Test
• El Helicoide: From Mall to Prison by Celeste Olalquiaga, author of The Artificial Kingdom and Megalopolis
• The Alchemical Wedding, Or, How They Lived Happily Ever After by Alchemist Brian Cotnoir
• Nature Perfected: The Dream of the Artificial Woman by Asti Hustvedt, Author of Medical Muses: Hysteria in Nineteenth-Century Paris
• Grand Guignol: Theater of Fear and Terror by Mel Gordon, author of Voluptuous Panic
• Music From Elsewhere, a concert and lecture featuring music of 'non-human people" by Fortean and musician Doug Skinner
• A Brief History of Sex Magic by Italian sociologist and author Massimo Introvigne
• NSK State: Oscillations of Utopia by NSK State Diplomat Charles Lewis

Illustrated Essays by Guest Writers

• Taxidermy as a Cultural Object: Notes on Preservation, Death and Art, An Essay and Photo Documentary by Artist and Professor Montse Morcate
• The Brushing of the Bones: Guest Post by Evan Michelson of Obscura Antiques
• Lord Kingsborough's Folly, or The Mayans and the Lost Tribes of Israel: A Guest Post by Cooper Hewitt Design Librarian Elizabeth Broman
• Twice is Nice: Double Burial Around the World by Daisy Tainton
• Traditions of Death and Burial: Book Review by Julia O'Connell
• The Underworld Meets the Earth: A Visit to the Devils Museum, Kaunas, Lithuania: Guest Post by Writer Amanda Kotch
• The Infamous Bohemian Grove: A New Donation to the Morbid Anatomy Library by  Anthony Marinese
• "Looking At Death": A Conversation With Curator and Writer Barbara Norfleet by Cristina Marcelo
• New Book on Fabulous Sedlec Ossuary
• Basil and Beheading: An Illustrated Essay by Eric Huang
• An Official Guide for Demon Hunters: Helpful Advice from Theologians and Witch-Hunters, by Stephen T. Asma, PhD
• The Gustavo Jirón Latapiat Anatomical Institute in Chile, by Álvaro Cabello
• The Uncanny, excerpt from High Weirdness: Drugs, Visions, and Esoterica in the Seventies, by Erik Davis, author of TechGnosis
• Faux Crime by Harold Schechter, true crime writer, author of The Whole Death Catalog
• “Only a Flesh Wound!” Hyperbolic Stoicism in Military Surgery at Trafalgar and Waterloo, by medical historian James Kennaway
• Frightening Fragments: The Representation of the Corpse in Baroque Sculpture by art historian Regina Deckers
• Theodore Gericault, The Raft of the Medusa, and the Anatomical Still Lives by medical illustrator Marie Dauenheimer, MA, CMI
• The Not-Quite-Lost Art of Bookbinding with Human Skin by Marc Hartzman, author of American Sideshow
• The Making of the Miniature Morbid Musée, An Illustrated Ode by filmmaker Joel Schlemowitz
• The Cold War Gothicism of Lesbian Pulp Fiction, by professor Laura Westengard
• Ivory Ladies and Their Playful Anatomy by art historian Cali Buckley
• What Do the Living Mean When We Say We’re in Purgatory? by Elizabeth Harper, "All The Saints You Should Know"
• The Spirit Houses of Thailand by writer Jane Rose
• In a Lover’s Eye by hair artist, jeweler and art historian Karen Bachman

Illustrated Essays by Morbid Anatomy

Founder and creative director Joanna Ebenstein

• Santa Muerte Procession and Festival in Mérida, Mexico: Video (!) and Photos
• Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria, Fantasia, Walt Disney Studios, 1941
• Happy Day of the Dead: A Traditional Cleaning of the Bones, From the Film "Birds of Passage"
• The Anatomical Venus, The Ecstatic, The Fetish and Falling in Love with Statues
• Angels Bearing Surgical Tools: Pavia, Italy's Anatomical Theatre
• The Palermo Catacombs During Day of the Dead, 1850
• An Ode to the Visual Exuberance of Christian Allegories in Art
• Syncretism, Sex and Death at Lima's Fabulous Museo Larco
• A Mysterious Kachina Doll and an Incredible Smithsonian Manuscript Filled with Hopi Ritual Costumes and Dances Drawn by Native Artists
• Macabre Ditty from The Muppet Show, Circa 1978
• St Wilgefortis, "The Bearded Saint," at Prague's Loreto Shrine and Beyond
• Science Meets Memento Mori at the First Anatomy Museum
• Anatomical New Romantic Fantasy, from Bob Fosse's All That Jazz
• Graffiti from The Museum of the Holy Inquisition, Palermo, Sicily
• The "Cuerpo Santo" or "Cuerpo Relicario" of Mexico
• The Virgin of Guadalupe, The Black Madonna and Santa Muerte: An Illustrated Meditation on Catholicism in Mexico
• Rivers of Life or Faiths of Man in All Lands: A Chart of All Religions in History and their Symbolic Continuities, Circa 1900
• Purgatory and the "The Neapolitan Cult of the Dead" or "The Neapolitan Skull Cult"
• The Enigmatic "Christus Anatomicus"
• The Paris Morgue as Tourist Attraction and the Death Mask of L'Inconnue de la Seine
• A Virtual Visit to the Museo Storico Nazionale dell'Arte Sanitaria, Rome's Medical Museum
• Enigmatic 18th Century Miniature Wax Dissectable Woman

Programming Director director Laetitia Barbier

• "Maquech": Bejeweled Mayan Beetles and a Tragic Love Legend
• A collection of portraits Stereoscopic Skin Clinic by Dr. Rainforth
• Miniatures Holy Matrimony: The Strange Church Dollhouse from the Toy Museum in Mexico
• The Demonic Madonna of Antonio Vivarini
• Rocaille Tombs and Broken Flowers: A Virtual Tour of a Ruined yet Charming Southern France Cemetery
• Mournful Still-Lives: A Donation of Victorian Funerary Arrangements
• The Madonna and The Mummy: Robert Doisneau at the Muséum D'Histoire Naturelle
• A Quick Drink at Cabaret du Neant
• Our Lady of Modern Despair: A Favorite Waxwork and Her Peculiar History
• The Weeping Virgin of La Salette Under the Snow
• The Birth of Eve
• Mademoiselle Claire: The Automaton Nurse of Bretonneau Hospital
• The Other Side: 19th Century Newspaper From the Land of the Dead

Festival of Arcane Knowledge: This Sunday, May 5, Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn

Cats being instructed in the art of mouse-catching by an owl, 
oil on canvas, c. 1700, Lombard School

This Sunday, May 5th, is our next Festival of Arcane Knowledge--our popular day-long festival of rogue scholarship packed with illustrated talks, screenings, tours, spectacles covering a wide variety of arcane subjects.

This year's iteration will feature lavishly illustrated talks on carnival haunted houses, sexuality and surrealist Leonor Fini, hysterical women and spiritualism, alchemy and art, imaginaries of the moon, and more. It will also feature a show and tell of gorgeous Latin American retablos by collector Deborah Dwyers; a screening of "Filmic Curiosities" by Midnight Archive's Ronni Thomas; and special tours of historic Green-Wood Cemetery (founded in 1838), The Morbid Anatomy Library and our new exhibition on Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. Speakers will include photographer and professor Lisa Kereszi, Museum of Sex curator Lissa Rivera, Medical Muses author Asti Hustvedt, author and journalist Mark Jacobson, artist and alchemist Brian Cotnoir. And we will end the day with a reception, rain or shine.

Following is the full lineup. Tickets are available here; admission is $45, discounted $5 for 10$/month Patreon Members. Directions to both entrances here.

This promises to be a really wonderful and stimulating day; hope very much to see you there!

Part 1 Schedule
Takes place at Fort Hamilton Gate House, Fort Hamilton Parkway and Micieli Place; directions here)

• 12pm - Special tour of the Morbid Anatomy Library and our new exhibition “Heaven, Hell and Purgatory: Visions of the Afterlife in the Catholic Tradition” with head librarian and co-curator Laetitia Barbier and collector and major loaner Stephen Romano, of Stephen Romano Gallery
• 1pm - End-to-end Walking tour of Green-Wood Cemetery with expert tour guide LJ Lindhurst. The tour will starting from the Fort Hamilton Gate House and leading through the Modern Chapel. (around 1 hour and 30 minutes)

Part 2 Schedule
Takes place at modern chapel one and two, inside main entrance, 5th Avenue and 25th Street; directions hereModern Chapel One

• 2.30pm - Welcome Address
• 2.45pm - “Haunted” by photographer Lisa Kereszi; an immersive journey through the ghost trains and haunted houses attractions of the Northeast.
• 3.15pm - “Pale Horse Rider: The Birth of the 'Truth Movement' and Death of the American Dream," illustrated talk by author and journalist Mark Jacobson
• 3.45pm - "Sacred Retablos of the Latin World," a lecture and show and tell with collector Deborah Dwyers featuring vintage and antique retablos, with a focus on the symbolic beauty and spiritual significance these and other folk art objects of Central and South America
• 4.15pm - "Magical Medicine: a brief history of the art of healing by invoking supernatural forces" with Clifford Hartleigh Low
• 4.45pm - "Leonor Fini: Theatre of Desire" an illustrated lecutre with Lissa Rivera, curator of The Museum of Sex
• 5.15pm - "Investigating the Supernatural: Scientific Quests to Colonize Hysterical Women and Psychic Mediums" an illustrated lecture by Medical Muses author Asti Hustvedt
• 5.45pm - "Alchemy and Surrealism," an illustrated lecture with artist and alchemist Brian Cotnoir, a survey of the Opus Magnus in the work of Max Ernst, Leonora Carrington, Jan Svankmajer and many other 20th artists
• 6.15pm - Victorian Martians, an illustrated lecture with author Marc Hartzman about outer space inhabitants in the 19th century imagination
• 6.45pm to 8pm - Reception with refreshments (Rain or Shine)

Modern Chapel Two

• 2:30pm to 6pm - Ronni Thomas’s Midnight Cabinet of Filmic Curiosities

*** Please note: the program begins at Green-Wood Cemetery's Fort Hamilton Gate House, but will largely take place in the modern chapels near the main 25th Street entrance to the Cemetery. See schedule below for details.

EXHIBITION: Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory: Visions of the Afterlife in the Catholic Tradition

EXHIBITION: Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory: Visions of the Afterlife in the Catholic Tradition

Curated by Laetitia Barbier and Joanna Ebenstein

Featuring works from artists and collectors Eva Aridjis, Victor Ancheta, Mark Dion, Deborah Dwyers, Eye’s Gallery, Phyllis Galembo, Marc Hartzmann, Invisible Gallery, Robert Lerch, Evan Michelson, Kaiser Raimos, Stephen Romano Gallery, Shannon Taggart, and Rex Young.  

Pieces include paintings, photographs, sculptures, historical books and prints dating from the 17th century to the present, and from locations around the world. The show also features a rich collection of Latin American masks, ex votos, and retablos.

April 20 – June 30, 2019; Weekends 12-5; Free and Open to the public

Opening Party: Friday April 26 (more below, tickets here)

In the Catholic worldview, when the body dies, the soul of the deceased is sent to a location in the afterlife to await the final judgment, at which point it will be reunited with the resurrected body. The souls of the unrepentant who have perpetrated the gravest sins are sent to hell, while the most stainless—saints who were martyred for their faith—are delivered straight to heaven. The majority of people, however, are sent to a place called purgatory. In this liminal space—a sort of temporary hell—souls are purged of their sins until they have attained the purity necessary to enter heaven and reside with God.

The idea of purgatory is a contentious one. Originally developed in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, it rose to popularity in the fourteenth century in response to the mass deaths wrought by the Black Plague. Disagreements about purgatory contributed directly to the birth of Protestantism. One of Martin Luther’s major points of contention in his Ninety-Five Theses of 1517 was the Church’s use of indulgences—papal grants promising to shorten or cancel a person’s time in purgatory. Once sold as ubiquitously as lottery tickets, profits were used to fund various projects including the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Since that time, the popularity of purgatory has gone in and out of fashion. Today, it is visible only in rare bastions of belief, such as Naples, Italy, and parts of Latin America. The concepts of heaven and hell, however, continue to thrive in the Catholic ethos.

This exhibition explores Catholic visions of heaven, hell, and purgatory —via art, artifacts, and material culture drawn from The Green-Wood Historic Fund Collections and the greater Morbid Anatomy community—, tracing how they have manifested in various places and shifted and changed over time.

“Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory: Visions of the Afterlife in the Catholic Tradition” and the Morbid Anatomy Library are free and open to the public at the Fort Hamilton Gatehouse on Saturdays and Sundays, 12 –5 PM, from April 20 to June 30. To visit outside of these hours, email events@green-wood.com.

The Gatehouse is located at Fort Hamilton Parkway and Micieli Place, easily accessible on the F and G trains at Fort Hamilton Station. The exhibition and library space are not handicap accessible. Click here for our inclement weather policy.

MORBID ANATOMY LIBRARY AND EXHIBITION OPEN HOUSE
Saturday, April 20th and Sunday, April 21rst
12pm-5pm
Free and no appointment necessary

Easter week end, join Morbid Anatomy's Joanna Ebenstein and Laetitia Barbier for an informal gathering to celebrate the Morbid Anatomy Library as we reopen its gorgeous home, the 1877 Fort Hamilton Gate House in Green-Wood Cemetery.

This will also be your first chance to see our new exhibition Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory: Visions of the Afterlife in the Catholic Tradition, a carefully curated selection of art, books, artifacts and ephemera drawn from the Green-Wood archives and the hands and collections of the Morbid Anatomy Community.

PLEASE NOTE: This event takes place at the Fort Hamilton Gatehouse NOT the main entrance of Green-Wood. The Gatehouse is located at Fort Hamilton Parkway and Micieli Place, easily accessible on the F and G trains at Fort Hamilton Station. The exhibition and library space are not handicapped accessible.

ENVISIONING THE AFTERLIFE: HEAVEN, HELL AND PURGATORY, EXHIBITION OPENING AND CEMETERY GARDEN PARTY

Friday, April 26, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Tickets here

Join us for a special after-hours garden party to celebrate the return of spring and the opening of Morbid Anatomy’s new exhibition, Envisioning the Afterlife: Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory.

Enjoy music curated by Friese Undine and complimentary refreshments while taking in the enchanting atmosphere. There will also be a special tour of the newly curated Morbid Anatomy Library by its creators, Joanna Ebenstein and Laetitia Barbier, as well as an opportunity to meet the artists, collectors, and contributors to the exhibition.

PLEASE NOTE: This event takes place at the Fort Hamilton Gatehouse NOT the main entrance of Green-Wood. The Gatehouse is located at Fort Hamilton Parkway and Micieli Place, easily accessible on the F and G trains at Fort Hamilton Station. The exhibition and library space are not handicapped accessible.

Tickets are $15 / $10 for members of Green-Wood and the Morbid Anatomy Patreon.

Morbid Anatomy Library and Exhibition Open House

Saturday, April 20th and Sunday, April 21st

12pm-5pm

Free and no appointment necessary

On this Easter week end, please join Morbid Anatomy's Joanna Ebenstein and Laetitia Barbier for an informal gathering to celebrate the Morbid Anatomy Library as we reopen its gorgeous home, the 1877 Fort Hamilton Gate House in Green-Wood Cemetery.

This will also be your first chance to see our new exhibition: Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory: Visions of the Afterlife in the Catholic Tradition, a carefully curated selection of art, books, artifacts and ephemera drawn from the Green-Wood archives and the hands and collections of the Morbid Anatomy Community.

PLEASE NOTE: This event takes place at the Fort Hamilton Gatehouse NOT the main entrance of Green-Wood. The Gatehouse is located at Fort Hamilton Parkway and Micieli Place, easily accessible on the F and G trains at Fort Hamilton Station. The exhibition and library space are not handicapped accessible.

Images to to bottom:

1. Purgatory Figure, Guatemala, 2017; Eye's Gallery Collection
2. Carved charred wood Purgatory figures, Mexico, 1990s; Eye's Gallery Collection
3. Shrine to the Souls in Purgatory: 19th Century Basilica of Saints Justus and Pastor, Barcelona, Photo by Joanna Ebenstein, 2013
4. Angel with Charrasca | Equine Jawbone Instrument, Mochitlán, Mexico, 2017; Fuji flex print by Phyllis Galembo
5. Mexican Retablo / Saint Michael the Archangel, holding a symbol of the all-seeing eye of God while conquering Lucifer in heaven, 19th century; Collection of Deborah Dwyer
6. Illustration of Hell from the novella The Black Crook: A Most Wonderful History, Lithograph, 1866, The Green-Wood Historic Fund
7. Holy Week Mask, Oaxaca, Mexico, 1960's; Eye's Gallery Collection
8. Manuscript page depicting demons in Hell, Rajasthan, India, Early 20th Century; Stephen Romano Gallery Collection

Recorded Lectures, New Articles and More on our New Patreon!

We at Morbid Anatomy are beyond excited to announce the launch of our Patreon Page, where we are now publishing new, exclusive Morbid Anatomy content available nowhere else!

Offerings will include--by popular demand!--video (thanks, Kellfire Bray) and audio recordings of our often sold out lectures, so that those not in New York City can enjoy them as well! First up is a video recording of Dr James Kennaway's recent talk on medical arguments against the imagination and a sound recording of Italian sociologist Massimo Introvigne's brief history of sex magic. Both are online now; and stay tuned, as we'll be adding many more in the weeks and months to come!

Other things you'll find will be illustrated articles by Morbid Anatomy's Joanna Ebenstein and Laetitia Barbier along with others in the greater Morbid Anatomy Community including Marc Hartzman, Jane Rose, Harold Schechter, Evan Michelson, Karen Bachmann, Jo Weldon, Amy Cunningham; recorded interviews with fascinating makers, rogue scholars and collectors in our community; and virtual tours of our own exhibitions as well as museums and collections around the world.

All of this content is available as part of our basic Morbid Anatomy Community Tier for only $5 a month. Supporters at higher levels will also have access to exclusive swag of various sorts (both domestic and international audiences), producer credits on our videos, invitations to exclusive parties, free and discounted events, private tours, and even all expense paid trips to foreign locales, among many other benefits. You can find out more here.

Your contribution will not only get you cool stuff; it will also allow us to continue our work excavating the interstices of art and medicine, death and culture, and support us in our cultivation and celebration of arcane knowledge and rogue scholarship. It will also go a long way towards fostering the unique community that Morbid Anatomy has cultivated since our launch in 2007.

We hope you enjoy! And thanks so very much for your support!

EXHIBITION: Bridging Two Worlds: The Land of the Living and the Land of the Dead

"Dante's Inferno", Unknown Artist, found in Mid-Western US, circa 1940's - 1950's, Courtesy of the Stephen Romano Gallery

We are delighted to announce a new exhibition we have produced as part of our autumn residency at Green-Wood Cemetery. Entitled Bridging Two Worlds: The Land of the Living and the Land of the Dead, the exhibition will explore, via objects and artworks drawn from collection of the greater Morbid Anatomy Community and Green-Wood Historic Fund, the ways in which we conceptualize and attempt to stay in contact with the realm of the dead.

The exhibition be on from view Saturday, September 22 through Sunday, December 2 at Green-Wood Cemetery's spectacular 19th century Fort Hamilton Gatehouse, and will feature pieces ranging from a Ghanian figurative coffin to Catholic relics to outsider art to spirit photographs to contemporary fine art, drawn from The Morbid Anatomy Collection, Green-Wood Historic Fund, The Brooklyn Public Library, Stephen Romano Gallery, Cole Harrell Gallery and Invisible Gallery and the private collections of Laetitia Barbier, Doug DeFeis, Joanna Ebenstein, Erika Larsen, Sherry Kerlin, Evan Michelson, Sarah Murray, Rebecca Purcell, Shannon Taggart, Mallorie Vaudoise and Cathy Ward.

On Friday, September 21, we hope you'll join us for our opening party, where you can meet artists and collectors and enjoy music and refreshments after-hours at the cemetery; more on that here.

You can find out more about the exhibition below. Very much hope to see you there!

Bridging Two Worlds: The Land of the Living and the Land of the Dead
Saturday, September 22 - Sunday, Dec 2, 2018
Weekends 12 - 5
Free and open to the public
The Fort Hamilton Gatehouse at Green-Wood Cemetery (Hamilton Parkway and Micieli Place, F and G trains at Fort Hamilton Station or Church Street Station)
More here 

Today, many people see the death of the body as the end of life. For most of human history, however, many believed--as some still do--that the dead continued to live on after death in another, invisible world. These worlds could be bridged by individuals such as the shaman, medium, and the priest. There was also the psychopomp, whose job it was to guide the souls of the dead from this world to the next.

Bridges between the worlds could also take the form of practices, including rituals, ancestor worship, sacrificial offerings, and prayer. Some cultures even believed that there were special times of the year when the boundaries between the worlds were particularly porous, allowing the dead to pay a visit to the land of the living, such as Mexico's Day of the Dead or Chinese New Year.

Today, we continue to create metaphoric bridges between the land of the living and the land of the dead; doctors and scientists define and defy the boundaries between the worlds, while the study of history, familial and cultural traditions, the contemplation of objects from the past, and monuments we build to remember the dead--including cemeteries such as Green-Wood--create bridges that allow us to honor and stay in communion with those we have lost.

This exhibition seeks to explore the ways in which we bridge the worlds of the living and the dead via objects and artworks drawn from collection of the greater Morbid Anatomy Community and Green-Wood Historic Fund

Special Morbid Anatomy Taxidermy Tour with Dr Pat Morris, Taxidermy History Expert and Author of "Walter Potter's Curious World of Taxidermy"

We are very excited to announce a special taxidermy tour this September featuring an exclusive chance to view rarely seen Walter Potter tableaux as well as private collections, historic mansions and 19th century museums--front and back stage--led by Dr Pat Morris, taxidermy historian and foremost collector of the work of eccentric Victorian taxidermist Walter Potter.

More information is below. Space is extremely limited. Please email us at morbidanatomy [a] gmail.com before July 26 if you might be interested in joining. More detailed information, booking form and request for a deposit will be mailed to you with a deadline of mid August to confirm your participation.

Taxidermy Tour: Behind the Scenes and Private Collection Taxidermy Tour with Dr Pat Morris, Taxidermy history expert and author of Walter Potter's Curious World of Taxidermy
September 3-9, 2018
London and environs
$2000-$2200 (Exact number given when we determine the number of attendees; Includes hotels, transportation within the UK, museum admissions, and some meals. Attendees will be responsible for their own airfare to and from London.)
Trip limited to 9 plus 3 staff members.

Space is extremely limited. Please email us at morbidanatomy [a] gmail.com before July 26 if you might be interested in joining. More detailed information, booking form and request for a deposit will be mailed to you with a deadline of mid August to confirm your participation.

Please join us this September for an exclusive taxidermy tour featuring rarely seen Walter Potter pieces as well as private collections, historic mansions and 19th century museums--front and back stage--led by Dr Pat Morris, taxidermy historian and foremost collector of the work of eccentric Victorian taxidermist Walter Potter. He will be accompanied and assisted by Joanna Ebenstein, creator of Morbid Anatomy and co-author and lead photographer on Walter Potter's Curious World of Taxidermy, and Laetitia Barbier, Morbid Anatomy head librarian.

On this trip. we'll pay several visits Dr Morris' house, where we will see rarely seen Walter Potter pieces, including one of his most famous tableaux, The Death and Burial of Cock Robin (1861). We will also see the tableau A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed, Potter's stuffed pet cat and dog, and his first piece of taxidermy, a canary along with rare archival materials, books, magic lantern slides, and ephemera related to the Potter Museum.

The Morris Collection also contains pieces by around 150 taxidermists, including Hermann Ploucquet, whose anthropomorphic pieces delighted Queen Victoria and probably inspired a young Potter, as well as Rowland Ward and Peter Spicer; thousands of documents and photographs; and copies of all the books on taxidermy published in Britain (some not even in the British Library!) and a selection of works from other countries. 

We will also visit the home of professional taxidermist Barry Williams, which houses his personal extensive collection of historic specimens. We will see him at work, and join him for afternoon tea while we enjoy a tour of his collection.

The trip will also feature special guided tours by Dr Morris of the UK's most historic and fascinating natural history collections, such as Tring Natural History Museum, opened in 1892 to make available to the public the private collation of rich eccentric Lionel Walter Rothschild; The Booth Museum of Natural History, founded in 1874 and featuring  pioneering ‘habitat group’ displays from the 19th century; The Horniman Museum, founded to showcase the Frederick John Horniman personal collection 'illustrating natural history and the arts and handicrafts of various peoples of the world' from around 1860 (with a visit to the Museum’s store to see the beautiful Hart collection of British birds); The Grant Museum of Zoology, one of the oldest natural history collections in the UK famous for its jar of moles and rare specimens such as a qyuagga skeleton, preserved Tazmanian Tigers, and dodo bones; the London Natural History Museum a 19th century 'cathedral to nature' housing its infamous hummingbird cabinet; The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art and Natural History, which presents the world displayed through wonder enclosed within a tiny space, inspired by the pre-enlightenment origins of the museum as Wunderkabinett; and The Saffron Walden Museum with a small natural history collection dating to 1832 and ‘Wallace’ a famous lion. There will also be a stop off to experience "human taxidermy" in the form of the auto-icon of Jeremy Bentham.

There will also be special guided tours of two magnificent National Trust historic mansions: Calke Abbey; this is a huge mansion originally built in the 12th century as an Augustinian priory and housing a varied collection of stuffed birds, mammals, fossils, and other natural history oddities gathered by a succession of the eccentric owners who lived there over the centuries and Audley End House, a mansion built in the early 17th century and housing the second largest display of historic country house taxidermy open to the public in Britain including many spectacular ornamental bird cases

Some evenings may be devoted to talks by Dr Morris on topics such as ‘historical taxidermy’ and the massive Van Ingen factory in India illustrated by pieces from Dr Morris' collection.

New Book on the Art, History and Symbolism of The Tarot by Morbid Anatomy and Strange Attractor Press!

We at Morbid Anatomy are delighted to announce a new project with our good friend Mark Pilkington at Strange Attractor Press: a new illustrated book about the art and history of the tarot. We are just launching a campaign via Unbound in order to help us raise the funds we need to create it. Awards range from a pre-order of the book to include signed, limited edition hardback versions of the book, tarot readings and classes, custom totes, and much more! You can find out more about the book below; you can find out more about our fundraising campaign– and pre-order a copy of the book! – by clicking here. Thanks so much for your interest and support!

Stars, Fools and Lovers will explore the art, history and symbolism of the tarot through dozens of antique and forgotten cards, from the well-known Rider Waite Smith deck to Austin Osman Spare's recently discovered Major Arcana, as well as reinterpretations by contemporary artists.

The tarot's origins stretch back to ancient Egypt but the cards as we know them today have their roots in 18th century Europe as playing cards. Since then, the seventy-eight card deck has become one of the most popular visual oracles of all time, and one of the most adaptable as well. Along the way it has inspired seekers, occultists, artists, film makers, writers, pop stars and fashion designers -- its influence can be seen in the work of the Surrealists as well as the TV series Twin Peaks.

Perhaps the reason for this is because the tarot has an uncanny ability to put us in touch with truths of which we are not consciously aware. The tarot, with its intuitive symbology, provides a bridge to our own unconscious. Or, as some believe, it provides access to invisible worlds beyond our understanding. Regardless of your beliefs and approach, our new book Stars, Fools and Lovers will provide you with the tools you need – along with a wealth of visual inspiration – to begin your own exploration of its complex and rich world.

Stars, Fools and Lovers will contain an array of cards drawn from original and forgotten decks as well as creative reimaginings by contemporary artists. Alongside these images, the book will explore how, over centuries of use, the tarot’s archetypal imagery has evolved and the cards' meanings have shifted. It will investigate the hidden history and many interpretations of the Major Arcana, deciphering the archetypes behind each figure and plumbing their complex histories, and trace the ways in which artists and illustrators from around the world have reinterpreted the Arcanas according to their cultural backgrounds and the problems they faced.

This book includes a history of the tarot and its use, as well as instructions on how to read the cards intuitively, to follow its traditions without dogma and suggests ways to experiment with the cards to find inspiration and enlightenment. The book will also present the thoughts of a variety of professional tarot readers about the pleasures and pitfalls of practical cartomancy.

Written and collected by Morbid Anatomy's Joanna Ebenstein and Laetitia Barbier – herself a professional tarot reader – and Strange Attractor Press's Mark Pilkington, this book is equal parts art book, how-to, history, and a meditation on tarot symbolism and its uses.

Biographies of the authors:

Joanna Ebenstein is a Brooklyn-based artist, writer and the founder of Morbid Anatomy. She is the editor of Death: A Graveside Companion (2017), author of The Anatomical Venus (2016) and co-author of Walter Potter's Curious World of Taxidermy (2014).

After studying art history at the Sorbonne in Paris, Laetitia Barbier became the head librarian of Morbid Anatomy and is a professional tarot reader in New York.

Mark Pilkington is the founder of the London-based Strange Attractor Press and the editor of its irregular Journal. He is the author of Mirage Men (2010) and Far Out: 101 Strange Tales from Science's Outer Edge (2007). He has written on music, art, film, cultural history and esoterica for publications including The Guardian, Frieze, Fortean Times, Boing Boing, The Wire, Sight and Sound, and has contributed to numerous anthologies.

Again, you can make a pledge or pre-order a copy of the book here. Thanks so much for your interest and support!

Morbid Anatomy Easter Open House at Green-Wood Cemetery

This Easter week-end (March 31 and April 1), a propitious date for resurrection, please join Morbid Anatomy's Joanna Ebenstein and Laetitia Barbier for an informal gathering, with snacks and refreshments, to celebrate the unveiling of the Morbid Anatomy Library in it's new home, the gorgeous 1877 Fort Hamilton Gate House in Green-Wood Cemetery.

This will also be your first chance to see our new exhibition The Power of Images: Life, Death and Rebirth, a carefully curated selection of art, books, artifacts and ephemera drawn from the Green-Wood archives and the hands and collections of the Morbid Anatomy Community.

Find out more here. Hope very much to see you there!

The Fort Hamilton Gate House is located at Fort Hamilton Parkway and Micieli Place, easily accessible on the F and G trains at Fort Hamilton Station. If arriving at the main entrance (25th Street and 5th Avenue) the Gate House is approximately a 25 minute walk through the Cemetery. The exhibition is not handicap accessible.

Image: From the Green-Wood Cemetery website

ANNOUNCEMENT: Morbid Anatomy Residency at Brooklyn's Historic Green-Wood Cemetery!

We are beyond delighted to announce that Morbid Anatomy has a found a temporary new home at Brooklyn's fabulous Green-Wood Cemetery!

The residency will be housed in The Cemetery's city landmark 1877 Fort Hamilton Gatehouse (see below). In the attic (below left) will find a new iteration of the Morbid Anatomy Library. Downstairs will feature The Power of Images: Life, Death, and Rebirth, a new exhibition curated by Morbid Anatomy's Laetitia Barbier and Joanna Ebenstein and featuring artworks, artifacts and ephemera from the hand (or private collections) of Kahn and Selesnick, Dana Sherwood, Rebecca Purcell, Ryan Matthew Cohn, Shannon Taggart, Lourdes Sanchez, The Stephen Romano Gallery, Invisible Gallery, Evan Michelson, The Reanimation Library, Friese Undine, J D Powe, Ronni Thomas, Daisy Tainton, Lado Pochkhua, Brian Cotnoir, Joel Schlemowitz, Eva Aridjis, the Green-Wood Cemetery Archives and more.

The Fort Hamilton Gatehouse is right inside the Fort Hamilton gate, located at Fort Hamilton Parkway and Micieli Place, easily accessible on the F and G trains at Fort Hamilton Station or Church Street Station. If arriving at the main entrance (25th Street and 5th Avenue) the Gate House is approximately a 25 minute walk through the Cemetery. The exhibition is not handicap accessible.

The residency will be free and open to the public on weekends, March 31 - June 24, 2018, from 12 - 5. We will also be producing a series of lectures, events, tours and parties as part of the residency; stay tuned for more on that.

We are currently seeking volunteer docents for both the library and exhibition. The shifts will be from 12-5 Saturdays and Sundays, and there is parking on the premises. Sadly, there is no wifi. Docents will receive free admission to one of our Green-wood events in exchange for a shift. If you are interested, please email morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com.

Hope very much to see you there!

Happy Birthday to "Death: A Graveside Companion:" New Book on Art and Death by our Founder Joanna Ebenstein

We would like to wish a festive happy birthday to Death: A Graveside Companion--the new book by our founder Joanna Ebenstein--whose official US release date is today!

You can order a copy of this epic book which explores, via over 1,000 images and 19 essays, humankind's attempts attempts – mythological, scientific and popular – to imagine, respond to, or find meaning in the mystery of death here.

Image from the book: Ivory Memento Mori by an unknown maker from c. 1640. In the 16th century, the memento mori--or objects created to urge the viewer to contemplate their mortality--moved from the church or the cemetery to the home, with the creation of artworks and objets d’art such as this one. It shows a skeleton standing among symbols of earthly glory, highlighting the futility of vanity and worldly pleasures.


More on the book follows. Hope you enjoy!

Death: A Graveside Companion
Edited by Joanna Ebenstein, Foreword by Will Self
Featuring the Richard Harris Art Collection
Thames and Hudson, October 24, 2017
368 pages, 1,000 illustrations in color and black and white
Available here

A one-of-a-kind art history, Death: A Graveside Companion is a captivating treasury of images that serves as a testament to humanity’s quests—metaphysical, mythological, scientific, and popular—to imagine, respond to, and come to terms with our own inescapable end.

From the hour of death to the afterlife, seven themed chapters exhibit a staggering range of artworks, artifacts, trophies, and keepsakes from around the world and throughout the ages, counterbalanced by nineteen insightful essays, accessible yet scholarly, from contributors across a broad arc of disciplines and perspectives.

In catacombs, crypts, and bone-pits, readers will find reliquaries, embalmings, and mummies; see somber rites and customs morph into the celebrations of Halloween and Day of the Dead; and behold the great artistic traditions—Memento Mori, Vanitas, Danse Macabre—juxtaposed with vernacular tokens, found photography, and curios from bygone rituals in exotic lands. The majority of the images—which range from fine art to scientific illustration to pop culture ephemera—are drawn from the largely unseen collection of Richard Harris, who has amassed over 3,000 objects related to death.

“Today, it is deemed morbid to view images related to death or contemplate death,” says Joanna Ebenstein, founder of Morbid Anatomy, who edited DEATH: A Graveside Companion. “The abundance of images in this book proves that this attitude is by far the exception rather than the rule. This book, I hope, will help provide a balance in our one-sided view of death, in which we tend to avoid it or consider it impolite to speak about despite the fact that it will inevitably happen to each of us, and will restore these forgotten and reviled images to a place of dignity and appreciation as important artifacts of humankind’s attempts to make sense of its most profound mystery.”

Rich in never-before-published material, Death: A Graveside Companionis a book like no other, brimming with morbid inspiration and macabre insights to take to the grave.

Essays (In order of appearance):

• Medusa and the Power of the Severed Head - Laetitia Barbier, Morbid Anatomy Library
• Poe and the Pathological Sublime - Mark Dery, Cultural Critic
• The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death - Bruce Goldfarb, Medical Examiner's Office, Baltimore
• Art, Science and the Changing Conventions of Anatomical Representation - Michael Sappol, former historian at National Library of Medicine
• Anatomy Embellished in the cabinet of Frederik Ruysch - Bert van de Roemer, Historian
• Anatomical Expressionism - Eleanor Crook, Anatomical Artist
• Playing with Dead Faces - John Troyer, Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath
• The Power of Hair as Human Relic in Mourning Jewelry - Karen Bachmann, Master Jeweler and Art Historian
• The Anatomy of Holy Transformation -  Liselotte Hermes da Fonseca, Art Historian
• The Dance of Death - Kevin Pyle, Artist
• Eros and Thanatos - Lisa Downing, University of Birmingham
• Collecting Death - Evan Michelson, Morbid Anatomy Library Scholar in Residence
• Death in Ancient and Present-Day Mexico - Eva Aridjis, Filmmaker
• Playing dead – A Gruesome  Form of Amusement - Mervyn Heard, Magic Lantern Scholar and Performer
• Theatre, Death and the Grand Guignol - Mel Gordon, author of Grand Guiginol and Voluptuous Panic
• Death-Themed Amusements - Joanna Ebenstein, founder of Morbid Anatomy
• Art and Afterlife: Ethel le Rossignol and Georgiana Houghton - Mark Pilkington of Strange Attractor Press
• Holy Spiritualism - Elizabeth Harper, Independent scholar
• Spiritualism and Photography - Shannon Taggart, photographer and independent scholar

Day Long Symposium on Art and Death at Brooklyn's Greenwood Cemetery, October 28

Attention New Yorkers: On Saturday, October 28, we will be hosting a day-long symposium dedicated to the intersections of art and death at Green-Wood Cemetery to celebrate the publication of Death: A Graveside Companion, edited by Morbid Anatomy creator Joanna Ebenstein. Tickets and more can be found here.

This book, published by Thames and Hudson, features over 1,000 images exploring humankind's imaginings of death, many largely unseen and drawn from The Richard Harris death collection. It also contains 19 essays by a variety of Morbid Anatomy regulars on a variety of art and death related topics.

Presenters--most of whom also contributed to the book--include medical historian Michael Sappol; Evan Michelson of Obscura Antiques and Oddities and TV's Oddities; hair artist and art historian Karen Bachmannn; filmmaker Eva Aridjis Porter; Ronni Thomas of the The Midnight Archive; photographer Shannon Taggart; Bruce Goldfarb of Baltimore’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner; medical illustrator Marie Dauenheimer; Morbid Anatomy’s Joanna Ebenstein and Laetitia Barbier; and more. Talks, screenings, and show-and-tells will span the allure of Victorian hair art made to mourn the dead, Géricault's morgue paintings used as studies for the Raft of the Medusa, The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, death in Mexico, photography of spirits after death, the surprising history of the guillotine, anatomical self identity, and much more.

Books will be available at a special discounted rate, lunch will be provided, and many contributors will be on hand to sign copies of the book.

There will also be an after party with music by Friese Undine and magic lantern projections by Joel Schlemowitz.

More and tickets here! Hope very much to see you there.

Above images: Paolo Vincenzo Bonomini, Cycle of Scenes of Living Skeletons, early 19th century. Painted for the Church of Santa Grata Inter Vites, Bergamo, Italy, for the Triduum of the dead. More in Death: A Graveside Companion, which can be preordered here.