In her new book, The Anatomical Venus: Wax, God, Death, & The
Ecstatic, Morbid Anatomy Museum co-founder Joanna Ebenstein digs
deep into the fascinating story behind this beautiful oddity, and
lays it all bare in tight, engaging prose that spans centuries and
takes us from the artisan workshops and cathedrals of 18th century
Italy into the dusty dime museums of turn-of-the-century New York
and deep into the uncanny valley inhabited by sex dolls and
surrealism in search of an answer: Who was the Anatomical
Venus?--Kim Kelly "Salon"
Today, it is tempting to see the Anatomical Venus as a tragic
victim, a disturbing symbol of men's desire to possess a passive
woman. But The Anatomical Venus also offers convincing reasons to
see the startling Sleeping Beauty, lovely even with her entrails
showing, as something much more significant. 'Perhaps the draw of
the Anatomical Venus comes from an unspoken, intuited resolution of
our own divided nature, ' Ebenstein writes, 'an unconscious
recognition of another avenue abandoned, in which beauty and
science, religion and medicine, soul and body might be
one.'--Lauren Oyler "Vice Magazine"
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