Howard C. Bartner's career as a medical illustrator uniquely combines his interests in biology and art. Born in New York City in 1931, he discovered his artistic abilities early, painting landscapes and still-lifes for his aunts and uncles. He graduated from the Stella Elkins Tyler School of Fine Arts at Temple University and continued his education in the Johns Hopkins University medical arts program. Whether drawing his illustrations from original dissections, stopping periodically to sketch, or observing surgical procedures and examining patients, Bartner's direct observations often produce works of considerable artistic sensitivity and beauty. He is particularly known for his expertise with ophthalmologic illustration.
In 1958, Howard Bartner created his first painting at the National Institutes of Health: Retina Uveitis Hemorrhages. For over forty years, Bartner built his career at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and also served as Associate Professor in the Department of Art as Applied to Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. His many accomplishments include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Human Physiology in Space project and drawings for Dr. James Bosma's Anatomy of the Infant Head. He received the Ralph Sweet Award for his creation of an educational model eye, an improved model for practice binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy. Bartner retired from NIH in 2000.
Illustrators at the Medical Arts and Photography Branch (MAPB) create images for use by the various institutes at the NIH. Institutes represented in this collection include the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Eye Institute (NEI), National Heart Institute (NHI), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases (NIAMD), National Institute of Dental Research (NIDR), National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness (NINDB), and the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center (CC).
From the guide to the Howard Bartner Papers, 1958-2002, (History of Medicine Division. National Library of Medicine)
