RIGGS, Robert

lithograph

sheet: 19 3/4 x 23 3/4 in; mat: 22 x 26 1/2 in

Robert Riggs’ was commissioned by one of the largest pharmaceutical companies at the time, Smith, Kline and French, to do a suite of prints surrounding the theme of medical care and the treatment of the insane in the US. The portfolio which resulted was meant to be sold to doctors for display in their offices, a comical notion considering the disturbing and dreary subject matter. Accident Ward depicts the aftermath of a violent domestic dispute in which the participants are patched up by doctors. Psychopathic Ward pictures mentally ill patients wandering about in a confused or tormented state and shoved into a bare room. Rather than showing doctors as heroes, Riggs’ prints focus on the patients being treated and seem to call out for more advanced medical practices to assist with treatment.

1940

RIGGS, Robert

b. United States, 1896 - 1966

Gift of Don Trevey to the Ken Trevey Collection of American Realist Prints

1992.144