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The Anatomical Venus --an " epically illustrated " new book by Morbid Anatomy founder Joanna Ebenstein--explores the curious history of seductive female anatomical wax models, created in the 18th century and peaking in fashion in the 19th. The book traces--in images and words--the evolution of these enigmatic sculptures from wax effigy to fetish figure and the embodiment of the uncanny. Described by Publisher's Weekly as "the strangest book of 2016, " The Anatomical Venus officially launches tomorrow, and we are celebrating with two events. The first will be a conversation on Thursday, June 2 between Joanna Ebenstein and Evan Michelson of the Science Channel’s Oddities taking place at the Rare Book Room at The Strand (more here ) followed by a book signing. For the more committed among you, on Saturday June 4th The Morbid Anatomy Museum will host a day long symposium exploring the range of topics covered by the book including anatomized women, wax, the ec...

The Morbid Anatomy Salon at London's Wellcome Collection is sadly now fully booked; apologies it sold out so fast! The good news is the event will be filmed and you'll be available to watch online soon after the live event. Stay tuned for more. Those who were unable to get tickets for this event might be interested in our other upcoming event in London, a one day symposium in honor of our new book on The Anatomical Venus on May 15th. It features a few of the same speakers, such as Chiara Ambrosio , Ross MacFarlane , and Morbid Anatomy founder and museum creative director Joanna Ebenstein . Other presenters include Strange Attractor's Mark Pilkington , wax sculptor and Morbid Anatomist at Large Eleanor Crook , Anatomist in residence Emily Evans , historian of medicine James Kennaway , John Troyer of the Centre for Death and Society, magic lanternist Mervyn Heard , Stephen Coates of The Real Tuesday Weld , and much more. Since their creation, The Anatomical Venus--an18th c...

As part of our recent Amsterdam Anatomy Weekend, The Vrolik Museum's Lisa Kuiper gave a fascinating tour of The Waag (above), which is not only the oldest building in Amsterdam (dating back to 1488) but also housed the anatomical theatre where public dissections were performed under the hand of Frederik Ruysch and others from 1691 until the early 19th century. The content of the following post is primarily sourced from Lisa's excellent tour. The Waag, Kuiper explained, began its life as a city gate; called St Anthony’s Port, it was locked each evening at 10 pm. It went on to become a weighing house (Waag in Dutch) where goods would be weighed before entering the city to evaluate the appropriate taxes before they went to market. From 1588 on, it also served as the home to the city's guilds, including that of the Surgeons; they were given the top space, a testament to thier importance. The Surgeons' Guild built a "Theatrum Anatomicum," or Anatomical Theatre, whi...

In 1919, artist Oskar Kokoschka commissioned doll maker Hermione Moos to create a life-sized effigy of his former lover Alma Mahler, widow of composer Gustav Mahler and one of the most pursued and celebrated women in Vienna. Despite being unhappy with the results. he painted and photographed the doll many times, and took it out as his companion to the theater and restaurants. Eventually, he ceremonially doused it in red wine and beheaded at a party. Learn more this--and much more!--in the new Morbid Anatomy Thames and Hudson / Artbook / D.A.P. book "The Anatomical Venus," out at the end of May! More can be found here. It can be pre-ordered in the USA here , and here for the rest of the world. 

Kapuziner Crypt (Kapuzinergruft), where the bodies of the Habsburg royal family are stored. — in Vienna, Austria. From a visit yesterday with dear friend and wax sculptor Eleanor Crook .

This weekend in Vienna, Morbid Anatomy is joining forces with two astounding Viennese medical museums-- The Josephinum and The Narrenturm --for our first ever Vienna Anatomy Weekend! The Josephinum--founded in 1785--houses an incredible collection of 18th century anatomical waxes crafted by the famed la Specola workshop in Florence, including its own dissectable Anatomical Venus, seen above with one of our lecturers, sculptor and ceroplast Eleanor Crook . The Narrenturm (bottom image) houses one of the largest and most stunning collections of pathological waxes and wet specimens I have ever personally seen in an atmospheric 18th century madhouse. I suggest spending Saturday at the Narrenturm and Sunday at the Josephinum to be sure to see all. Below is my suggested full schedule; you can email pas@nhm-wien.ac.at to register for all Narrenturm events and sammlungen@meduniwien.ac.at for all Josephinum events. Fee can be paid at the Museums on the day of; please bring cash. Also, the mu...

People like Von Cosel live so far outside our materialist world that it’s hard for them to even perceive ’normal'. They challenge reality without effort, inhabiting in a world of their own design. Which is why I am driven to create a documentary about this strange, beautiful life. --Ronni Thomas, Morbid Anatomy Filmmaker in Residence Morbid Anatomy's filmmaker in residence Ronni Thomas is hard at work on a new feature length film detailing the story of self-styled Count Carl von Cosel (aka Carl von Cosel), a man best remembered today for trying to preserve the body of his beloved. Ronni is trying currently raising funds via Kickstarter for this ambitious and worthy new project. More on the story of Cosel in Thomas' guest post below, and in the video above. Please consider supporting this amazing fever dream of a film if you can! You can do so by clicking here. Count Carl Von Cosel - Beyond Death Its very easy to take the story of Carl von Cosel and strip it dow...