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Stories

  • Article

Why the 1918 Spanish flu defied both memory and imagination

The Black Death, AIDS and Ebola outbreaks are part of our collective cultural memory, but the Spanish flu outbreak has not been.

  • In pictures

Pum Dunbar’s living lessons

Read the ‘legends’ that give insight into Pum Dunbar’s creative process while producing her recent series of collages.

  • Article

Spanish flu and the depiction of disease

The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 killed many millions more than World War I did. Find out why contemporary artistic depictions of its devastating impact are so rare.

All stories (3)

Images

  • Skeletons dancing. Etching by R. Stamper after C. Sharp.
  • Dance of death: three music-making and dancing skeletons flanked by two women on the left and a couple on the right. Etching.
  • The dance of death at Basel; skeletons playing the pipe and the drum to accompany the dance. Lithograph by Danzer after H. Hess.
  • A skeleton gentleman at a ball asks a skeleton lady to dance; representing the effect of arsenical dyes and pigments in clothing and accessories. Wood engraving, 1862.
  • A man with influenza, taken in hand by a doctor, surrounded by dancing politicians. Wood engraving by Pépin (E. Guillaumin), 1889.
  • The dance of death. Lithograph after A. Dauzats, 1831.
  • The dance of death. Lithograph after A. Dauzats, 1831.
  • The dance of death. Oil painting.
  • The dance of death. Oil painting.
  • The dance of death. Oil painting.
All images (12)

Catalogue

All works (13)