Obstruction of the bile duct, indicated by forceps, gall bladder and liver in a 60-year old woman. Watercolour after radiograph by Barbara E. Nicholson, 1946.

Ashford, Middlesex, 1946.

1 painting : watercolour ; sheet 19.8 x 24.5 cm

Barbara Evelyn Nicholson (1906 – 1978) trained at the Royal College of Art, graduating in 1923. She began her artistic career as a medical illustrator and was a founder member of the Medical Artists Association, where she is recorded as serving on an exhibition committee in October 1949. By 1951, she had illustrated G.F. Gibberd, A short textbook of midwifery (2nd ed., London: J. & A. Churchill, 1941) and Philip Wiles, Essentials of orthopaedics (London: J. & A. Churchill, 1949). The Medical Artists Association records last list her, in 1951. In the 1950s her focus moved to botanical subjects and from the late 1950s – 1970s she was a prolific botanical illustrator.

<...> obstruction of the common bile duct, carcinoma of the duodenum, posterior surface of liver Lettering in black ink and pencil Bears number: 22/1946

Wellcome Collection 31314i

Barbara E. Nicholson was a founder member of the Medical Artists Association, where she is recorded as serving on an exhibition committee in October 1949. By 1951, she had illustrated G.F. Gibberd, A short textbook of midwifery, London: J. & A. Churchill, 2nd ed. 1941, and Philip Wiles, Essentials of orthopaedics, London: J. & A. Churchill, 1949. She also illustrated published books on flowers. The Medical Artists Association records last list her, in 1951, as resident at Berwick St John, Shaftesbury, Dorset. The collection of Barbara Nicholson's watercolours and pen and ink drawings were painted at Ashford Hospital, Ashford, Middlesex, at the request of the surgeon Norman Matheson between 1946 and 1951, and were presented to the Wellcome Institute Library in 1987 by Ashford Postgraduate Medical Centre.

Presented to the Wellcome Institute Library in 1987 by Ashford Postgraduate Medical Centre, as part of a collection of medical illustrations by Barbara E. Nicholson.