![]() ![]() The art, reportage, and visual imagery of the time capture the pandemic experience: the adoption of germ theory with a government push for PPE, and a mixed public acceptance and resistance to personal protections.ĭrawings and advertisements in municipal archives, US Public Health Service cartoons, and Department of Health bulletins from the period document the public health response. 1 The milieu of major cities during the 1918 pandemic is eerily familiar to those hard-hit by COVID-19, with quarantines, abandoned streets, and masked workers. Highly contagious and virulent, it infected 500 million people, and caused at least 50 million deaths globally. ![]() The 1918 Influenza occurred from January 1918 to December 1920. The image depicts a man with a sprinkler head for a nose with the caption, "How disease is spread: Sneeze but don't scatter" The public, at large, had not yet adapted PPE for themselves. 2Īrtwork in the Black Death highlights actions taken to protect ourselves from invisible threats of the natural world-at least by doctors. To improve the smell, and associated quality of the inhaled air, the beak was filled with sweet dried flowers, herbs and spices. The miasmatic theory of disease suggested that the plague was spread through poisoned air. ![]() Before the understanding of germ theory, doctors believed the principle agent of disease for the Black Death was noxious air, or miasma. To the contrary, art during the latter period of the Black Death documents doctors wearing a curved, bird-like beak intended to protect from the plague, as pictured in Paulus Fürst’s Doctor Schnabel von Rom. Forms of physical personal protection, like masks, were absent from early artwork. 1 Art from this pandemic memorializes the shift from connecting disease with faith-based factors to believing the Black Death is a consequence of harmful substance exposure.ĭuring early stages of the Black Death, art depicted the disease from a religious perspective and faith-based imagery predominated. 1 While the most catastrophic peak occurred during 1346 – 1353, yearly recurrences are documented until 1671. The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics, causing 75 – 200 million deaths. “ Doctor Schnabel von Rom” by Paulus Fürst is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |