A Mid-Century Moulage Resurgence

By the mid-twentieth century, wax moulage declined as photography and plastics became more accessible, though wax’s lifelike and three-dimensional qualities remained valuable in specific contexts. Two Canadian medical illustrators cultivated innovative applications for this technique, contributing to what art historian Andrea Terry has called a mid-century “resurgence” of wax moulage.

The conditions created by WW2 saw a lack of educational materials in Canada as sources in Europe became difficult to access. Materials like textbooks and commercially produced models were essential to the increasingly urgent need for training personnel in medical schools.

At Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Dr. Edwin Robertson commissioned Montreal-born artist Marjorie Winslow (1916-1985) to respond to this need. They collaborated to create a series of obstetrical and gynecological wax models for teaching.

An article from the Baltimore Sun of Medical Illustration students at Johns Hopkins creating “life masks” with plastics in 1946.

Winslow, though not trained specifically in medical illustration, had trained extensively in fine arts in Montreal and in Europe. Drawing on her experience with clay modelling, she began the project in 1942 with meticulous guidance from Robertson and consultation on wax moulages from an artist visiting from Johns Hopkins. In 1946, she moved from Kingston back to Montreal, continuing both her independent studio practice and her project with Robertson.

She observed operations at the Royal Victoria Hospital, creating moulds from memory that she cast in wax and hand-detailed. Her practice continued to evolve in Montreal: working with neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield, she created wax models and drawings from observing his work during operations.

Wax anatomical model (moulage) of a somatotype of a woman with Turner’s Syndrome by Marjorie Winslow, circa 1946.

Post-war, moulage techniques also found a new use in the growing field of plastic surgery. In 1946, fellow Montreal medical illustrator (and Penfield collaborator) Eleanor Sweezey co-authored a technical article detailing how moulage was used to document in-progress plastic surgery at the Montreal Military and Saint Anne de Bellevue Veterans Hospitals.

Casting and moulding using plaster, clay and wax were also used to plan reconstructive surgery and create prosthetics. These institutions, established in response to the influx of war-injured patients, were important settings for the advancement of moulage practices and the integration of new and experimental plastics.

Wax model (moulage) of a somatotype of a woman with massive obesity by Marjorie Winslow, circa 1946.

Both artists contributed to the evolution of moulage as a tool in a field transformed by wartime. Their respective work illustrates how the craft of moulage responded to shifts in the broader history of twentieth-century medicine.