Dr Natasha Ruiz-Gomez
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Email
natashar@essex.ac.uk -
Telephone
+44 (0) 1206 872999
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Location
6.131, Colchester Campus
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Academic support hours
Spring term: Mondays and Thursdays, 1 -2 pm. Please email for an appointment (natashar@essex.ac.uk).
Profile
Biography
Natasha Ruiz-Gómez specialises in French art and visual culture of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and is especially interested in the intersection of art and medicine. She is an expert on the oeuvre of the sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) and on the visual culture of medicine in late nineteenth-century France, especially at the Hôpital de la Salpêtrière under Dr Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893). Her interdisciplinary scholarship has appeared in Art History, Medical Humanities, Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, Modern and Contemporary France, Forensic Science International: Mind and Law, Thresholds and various anthologies, as well as in exhibition catalogues for the Statens Museum for Kunst (Copenhagen) and the Tate. She has also published in The Conversation and in Wellcome Collection Stories. She has previously served on the Editorial Board of caa.reviews, as well as acting as its Field Editor for Nineteenth-Century Art, and on the Higher Education Committee of the Association for Art History. She is currently Editor of The Sculpture Journal. Natasha's book, Pathology and Visual Culture: The Scientific Artworks of Dr Jean-Martin Charcot and the Salpêtrière School, was published by Penn State University Press in 2024. Charcot became one of the founders of modern neurology by studying the patients of the living pathological museum, as he called it, of the Hôpital de la Salpêtrière in Paris, where he was head of the medical service for more than thirty years. Charcot nurtured the artistic sensibilities of the many doctors who worked under him, especially those of Paul Richer (1849-1933), who was one of the most important members of the Salpêtrière School and who would later spend the first three decades of the twentieth century as Professor of Anatomy at the École des beaux-arts. In their drawings, photographs and sculptures, they demonstrated a clear engagement with contemporary artistic practices and discourses, all the while protesting their own objectivity. Natasha's project questions the elasticity of the concept of objectivity, avowed by the doctors at the Salpêtrière even as they employed artistic skill, and thereby subjective interpretation, to visualise pathology. She is currently working on a book manuscript that looks at the fundamental importance of 'reproducibility' in all aspects of Auguste Rodin's practice, including sculpture, drawing and photography. It counters the narrative that Rodin was nature's 'sublime copyist', which the artist himself propagated and which continues in much of the Rodin scholarship. Its working title is 'Against Nature: Rodin and Reproducibility'. Along with Keren Hammerschlag of Australian National University and Tania Cleaves (née Woloshyn, independent scholar), Natasha is co-editing a book entitled Borderline Bodies in Art and Visual Culture: Unsettling Identity and Place Since 1800 (under contract with Manchester University Press). Borderline Bodies offers original interpretations of visual representations of human bodies as bounded and unbounded, fortified and permeable, mobile and static—subject to borders and able to traverse and challenge them. It also takes as its focus images and objects that might be considered ‘borderline’ because they sit at the intersection of disciplines or sit outside accepted notions of what constitutes serious ‘art.’ Natasha has been the recipient of numerous fellowships, including a Research Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust, a Visiting Research Fellowship from the Institute of Advanced Studies at UCL, a five-year Research Councils UK Fellowship and a Kress Curatorial Fellowship at the Brooklyn Museum. She was also awarded a Medical Humanities Small Grant from the Wellcome Trust (with Mary Hunter, McGill). Natasha is passionate about teaching and was honoured with a Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching by a Graduate Student by the University of Pennsylvania. Natasha welcomes proposals for doctoral projects that examine the art of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, especially sculpture and photography, or that engage with the intersection of art and science/medicine in a historical context.
Qualifications
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PhD in the History of Art University of Pennsylvania,
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MA in the History of Art University of Pennsylvania,
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BA Columbia University,
Appointments
University of Essex
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Director of Education, SPAH, University of Essex (1/1/2018 - 31/12/2020)
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Director of Undergraduate Studies (Art History), PHAIS, University of Essex (1/1/2018 - present)
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Director of Research (Art History), PHAIS, University of Essex (1/1/2023 - present)
Other academic
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Senior Lecturer, SPAH, University of Essex (1/10/2016 - present)
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Lecturer, SPAH, University of Essex (1/1/2013 - 30/9/2016)
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RCUK Fellow, Art History and Theory, University of Essex (1/1/2008 - 31/12/2012)
Research and professional activities
Research interests
Art and science/medicine
Auguste Rodin's oeuvre
Nineteenth-century French sculpture
Architecture and urban planning in nineteenth-century Paris
Auguste Rodin and science
Jean-Martin Charcot and art
Objectivity and medical imagery
Medical portraiture
Nineteenth-century medical photography
Theories of degeneration and genius
Current research
The Scientific Artworks of Doctor Jean-Martin Charcot and the Salpêtrière School: Visual Culture and Pathology in fin-de-siècle France
Book Manuscript
Auguste Rodin, Against Nature (working title)
Book in progress
Conferences and presentations
Monstrous: Paul Richer’s La Femme, Anthropology and Race
Complexions/Reflections: Cosmetics, Adornment, Disfiguration, Canberra, Australia, 3/4/2023
Falling (Panel)
College Art Association Annual Conference, New York, United States, 15/2/2023
Global Anatomies (Panel)
Association for Art History Annual Conference, London, United Kingdom, 6/4/2022
Tracing, Cutting and Pasting in Rodin’s Works on Paper
Avant-Garde Art on Paper, 1905-1950, Brussels, Belgium, 25/3/2022
Cast from Life: Auguste Rodin and the Potential of Plaster
The Art of Plaster: Between Creation and Reproduction, Lisbon, Portugal, 8/11/2021
Noir et blond: Auguste Rodin’s Photographic Scrapbooks
Photographic Art Reproductions, from 1839 to the Present, St Andrews, United Kingdom, 23/7/2021
Rodin’s Dead Bodies
Remains of the Body: Legacy and Cultural Memory of Bodies in World Culture, Coventry, United Kingdom, 22/5/2021
Rodin and Pain
Association for Art History Annual Conference, Birmingham, United Kingdom, 15/4/2021
‘Artistry and the Spaces of Medicine’
Association for Art History annual conference, Brighton, United Kingdom, 4/4/2019
‘With Pencil and Scissors: Rodin Draws the Body’
Invited presentation, Rodin Study Day at Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich, United Kingdom, 2/3/2019
‘The Ataxic Venus: Specimen and Portrait at the Musée Charcot’
Portraiture conference, Durham, United Kingdom, 13/7/2018
‘Interdisciplinary Entanglements: Towards a “Visual Medical Humanities”’
Association for Art History annual conference, London, United Kingdom, 6/4/2018
‘Against Nature: Cutting, Pasting and Tracing in Rodin’s Drawings’
Seeing More in the Work of Art: A Celebration of Christine Poggi conference, Philadelphia, United States, 23/3/2018
‘Collecting Pathology at the Musee Charcot’, Colloquium Series on ‘Objectes Perduts’, Societat Catalana d’Historia de la Ciencia i de la Tecnica, Barcelona, January 2018 [invited lecture]
Invited presentation, Barcelona, Spain, 1/2018
‘Shaking the Tyranny of the Cadaver: Doctor Paul Richer and the Living Ecorche’, History of Art Research Seminar Series, University College London, London, October 2015 [invited lecture]
Invited presentation, London, United Kingdom, 10/2015
'From Hospital to Ecole: The Artistic Legacy of the Salpetriere', Bodies Beyond Borders: The Circulation of Anatomical Knowledge, 1750-1950 conference, University of Leuven, Belgium, January 2015 [keynote address]
Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, Leuven, Belgium, 1/2015
'Jean-Martin Charcot, l'Ecole de la Salpetriere et les oeuvres d'art scientifiques', Rencontres du patrimoine hospitalier, Musee de l'Assistance Publique, Paris, October 2014 [invited lecture]
Invited presentation, Paris, France, 2014
‘“Old Age Always Comes Too Quickly”: The Elderly Body in the 1890s’, The Visual Culture of Medicine and Its Objects conference, Georgetown University, Washington DC, September 2014 [invited lecture]
Invited presentation, Washington D.C., United States, 2014
Metamorphoses of a History Painting: Andre Brouillet's Une Lecon clinique a la Salpetriere (1887), panel: Action Painting: The Theatrical and the Dramatic in Narrative Art, Association of Art Historians annual conference, Reading, April 2013
Reading, United Kingdom, 2013
Exposing the Musee Charcot: The Medical Museum as Cabinet of Curiosities, Probing the Interior 1800-2012 conference, Courtauld Institute of Art and Kings College London, London, May 2012 [invited lecture]
Invited presentation, London, United Kingdom, 5/2012
Sculptural Diagnostics: Paul Richer's Pathological Portraits for the Musee Charcot, Patient Portraits Workshop, Centre for the Humanities and Health, Kings College London, London, May 2012 [invited lecture]
Invited presentation, London, United Kingdom, 2012
The Scientific Artworks of Paul Richer, Spring Academy [Ecole de Printemps]: Arts and Knowledge, International Consortium on Art History, Paris, May 2012
Paris, France, 2012
The Embellished Objective: The Art of Retouching at the Salpetriere, The Madness of Photography conference, SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) Fourth Biennial Art History Symposium, Savannah, Georgia, February 2012
Savannah, Georgia, 2012
Le Musee Charcot et l'art de la pathologie, colloque: Le theatre des nerfs: cultures neurologies, psychologiques et spectaculaires autour de 1900, Centre des Sciences historiques de la culture, Universite de Lausanne, Lausanne, November 2011
Lausanne, Switzerland, 2011
Individual and Multiple: Rodin and Physiognomy, AHRC-funded Likeness and Facial Recognition Workshop, Wellcome Trust, London, March 2011 [invited lecture]
Invited presentation, London, United Kingdom, 2011
Abstracting from Life: Photography and the Sculpture of Obrist and Rodin, Obrist, Sculpture and Abstraction conference, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, June 2010 [invited lecture]
Invited presentation, Leeds, United Kingdom, 2010
Jean-Martin Charcot and the Diagnosis of Art, panel: Crossings: Art, Medicine, Visual Culture, Association of Art Historians annual conference, Manchester, April 2009
Manchester, United Kingdom, 2009
Rodin et Freud: les liens inconnus a travers l'hysterie et Jean-Martin Charcot, Journee d'etude: La passion a l'oeuvre, Rodin et Freud collectionneurs, Musee Rodin, Paris, January 2009 [invited lecture]
Invited presentation, Paris, France, 2009
A Modern Proteus: Rodin and the Camera, Society for French Historical Studies annual conference, New Brunswick, April 2008 [organizer of panel on The Self-Fashioning of the Artist in Twentieth-Century France]
Saint John, Canada, 2008
'Modern Machinations: Figurative Sculpture and the Machine Aesthetic in the Early Twentieth Century, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, March 2008 [invited lecture]
Invited presentation, Leeds, United Kingdom, 2008
My Wax Lady Has Made a Sensation: Charcot and the Art of Illness on the Fringes, Medicine at the Margins: Ideas, Knowledge and Practice, ca. 1500-2000 conference, University of Glamorgan, Cardiff, April 2011
Teaching and supervision
Current teaching responsibilities
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Art and Ideas: I (AR119)
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Art Revolutions (AR121)
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Picturing the City I (AR207)
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The Modern Age: European Art From Van Gogh to Surrealism (AR216)
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Capstone - Art History / Curating / Heritage (AR383)
Previous supervision
Degree subject: Art History and Theory
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 27/2/2023
Degree subject: Art History and Theory
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 16/3/2022
Degree subject: Art History and Theory
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 17/11/2021
Degree subject: Art History and Theory
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 9/10/2018
Degree subject: Art History and Theory
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 7/8/2017
Degree subject: Art History and Theory
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 3/7/2017
Degree subject: Art History and Theory
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 20/2/2017
Degree subject: Art History and Theory
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 26/2/2016
Degree subject: Art History and Theory
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 8/9/2015
Publications
Journal articles (11)
Ruiz-Gomez, N., (2024). Review of Rebecca Whiteley, Birth Figures: Early Modern Prints and the Pregnant Body (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2023). Print Quarterly. 41 (1), 39-41
Ruiz-Gómez, N., (2024). Remarkable things: Visual evidence and excess at Charcot's Salpêtrière.. Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 1-20
Ruiz-Gómez, N. and Liebrenz, M., (2021). The ties that bind past and present: Tony Robert-Fleury, Philippe Pinel and the Salpêtrière. Forensic Science International: Mind and Law. 2, 100049-100049
Ruiz-Gómez, N., (2021). Cuerpos representados: Objetos de ciencia artísticos en España, siglos XVIII–XX. Cuerpos representados: Objetos de ciencia artísticos en España, siglos XVIII–XX . Edited by Alfons Zarzoso and Maribel Morente. Vitoria-Gasteiz: Sans Soleil Ediciones, 2020. Pp. 378. €18.52 (paperback). ISBN 9788412157833.. Hispanic Research Journal. 22 (5), 554-555
Ruiz-Gómez, N., (2013). The 'Scientific Artworks' of Doctor Paul Richer. Medical Humanities. 39 (1), 4-10
Ruiz-Gómez, N., (2013). A Hysterical Reading of Rodin's Gates of Hell. Art History. 36 (5), 994-1017
Ruiz-Gómez, N., (2010). French Masculinities: History, Culture and Politics edited by Christopher E. Forth and Bertrand Taithe. Gender and History. 22 (2), 491-492
RUIZ‐GÓMEZ, N., (2009). MODERN WOMEN AND PARISIAN CONSUMER CULTURE IN IMPRESSIONIST PAINTING BY RUTH E ISKIN. The Art Book. 16 (1), 75-76
Ruiz-Gómez, N., (2007). Review of "Auguste Rodin: Drawings and Watercolors" by Antoinette Le Normand-Romain and Christina Buley-Uribe and "Rodin" by Catherine Lampert and Antoinette Le Normand-Romain.. caa.reviews
Ruiz-Gómez, N., (2006). The (Jean) Nouvel Other: Primitivism and the Musée du Quai Branly. Modern & Contemporary France. 14 (4), 417-432
Ruiz-Gómez, N., (2006). Essence and Evanescence in the Hands of Rodin. Thresholds. 31 (31), 103-109
Books (1)
Ruiz-Gómez, N., (2024). Pathology and Visual Culture The Scientific Artworks Of Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot and The Salpêtrière School. Penn State University Press. 0271096802. 9780271096803
Book chapters (7)
Ruiz-Gómez, N., (2021). Of Sculptural and Corporal Remains. In: The Making of Rodin. Editors: Nabi, NA., Ariot, C. and Borchardt-Hume, A., . Tate Publishing. 46- 53. 1849766754. 9781849766753
Ruiz-Gómez, N., (2019). The Model Patient: Observation and Illustration at the Musée Charcot. In: Visualizing the Body in Art, Anatomy, and Medicine Since 1800: Models and Modeling. Editors: Graciano, A., . Routledge. 203- 232. 113854437X. 9781138544376
Ruiz-Gómez, N., (2018). Genius and Degeneracy: Auguste Rodin and the Monument to Balzac. In: Medicine and Maladies: Representing Affliction in Nineteenth-Century France. Editors: Leroy, S., . Brill / Rodopi. 217- 250. 9789004367999
Ruiz-Gómez, N., (2017). Shaking the Tyranny of the Cadaver: Doctor Paul Richer and the Living Écorché. In: Bodies Beyond Borders: Moving Anatomies, 1750-1950. Editors: Wils, K., de Bont, R. and Au, S., . Leuven University Press. 231- 257. 978 94 6270 094 9
Ruiz-Gómez, N., (2016). Against the grain: Rodin's experiments with paper. In: Ecstasies: Drawings by Auguste Rodin. Editors: Lederballe, T., . National Gallery of Denmark [Statens Museum for Kunst]. 171- 202. 9788775511693
Ruiz-Gómez, N., (2010). Auguste Rodin, Photography, and the Construction of Masculinity. In: Interior Portraiture and Masculine Identity in France, 1789-1914. Editors: Balducci, T., Belnap Jensen, H. and Warner, PJ., . Ashgate. 197- 212. 9780754667841
Ruiz-Gómez, N., (2008). 'Auguste Rodin and the 'Scientific Image': The Sublime Copy Versus the Photograph'. In: Visions of the Industrial Age, 1830-1914 Modernity and the Anxiety of Representation in Europe. Editors: Kang, M. and Woodson-Boulton, A., . Ashgate. 109- 138. 9780754664888
Grants and funding
2017
The Scientific Artworks of Doctor Jean-Martin Charcot and the Salpetriere School
Leverhulme Trust
2013
Collect, Exchange, Display: Artistic Practice and the Medical Museum
Wellcome Trust
Contact
Academic support hours:
Spring term: Mondays and Thursdays, 1 -2 pm. Please email for an appointment (natashar@essex.ac.uk).
