Description

HUMAN REPRODUCTION IN PLASTER:  SET OF ANATOMICAL MODELS, American, c. 1930, attributable to the renowned Dr. Fortunato.  The largest model measures 14-1/2” x 9-1/2” (37 x 24 cm), the smallest 8” x 8” (20 x 20 cm); all are approximately 3” thick.  They present, in partial cross section:

–the male reproductive system;

–the female pelvic area as partial écorché;

–the female reproductive system;

–a pregnant female with well-developed fetus.

        Probably designed for medical school instruction, these are graphic two / three dimensional sculptural objects.  Condition is fine noting a few chips to the male model, and a few stains.  

       Penciled notes on the plaster attribute the models to Dr. Vladimir Fortunato, physician and modeler, born in 1885 in the Crimea.  Educated at the University of Moscow, he worked for the Moscow Medical Museum as a sculptor of anatomical models.  As a 1921 immigrant to the U.S., he continued this career at the Johns Hopkins University, and was called upon to make the death mask of President Woodrow Wilson.  At the time of his own death, in 1938, Fortunato was busy preparing models for the 1939 World’s Fair, for exposition in the impressive Medicine and Public Health building.  Fortunato’s other claim to fame is as the inventor/producer of the vibrating dildo, in 1937.  One notation on the plaster reads “V. Fortunato after Spaltholz,” referring to Dr. Werner Spaltholz, author in the 1920’s of the major Hand-Atlas of Human Anatomy. $4500./ the set