Ralph William Sweet, Medicine: San Francisco
With the passing of Ralph W. Sweet, Professor of Medical Arts and Illustration, the country lost one of its outstanding medical illustrators and teachers of art, as applied to medical science. Ralph Sweet was born in Rochester, Minnesota, in 1892. He grew up in a medical tradition, for, during his boyhood, he was a neighbor to the Doctors Mayo, who often, in his adolescence, encouraged him to come in and view operations in Old St. Mary's Hospital. He early realized that freehand sketching was the basis of finished portrayal of all that was ultimately to be reproduced. Through stern discipline, he became an outstanding sketcher. Most of his training was at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Minnesota, which he attended for a period of two years. The early contact with the Mayo Brothers with their introduction to the operating room made him realize that the medical representation was a fine art. The Mayo Brothers knew who was the master in medical art at the time, and directed him to Max Brödel, then in Baltimore at the Johns Hopkins Medical School. It was quite natural that this budding artist sought the areas of anatomical, surgical, and medical illustration, for his teacher had already established a reputation in this realm in Germany and had come to the Johns Hopkins Hospital to act as medical illustrator--the first in this country. Ralph Sweet was a very talented and stimulating ― 94 ―
student, and in the course of two years' association with the Baltimore artists he attained such ability in the realm of
medical illustration that he felt he could return to Rochester, Minnesota and--to some extent--repay his sponsors, the Doctors
Mayo, for their interest and encouragement that was given to him so lavishly over the years. He remained in Rochester for
three years, when he was subsequently urged to come to California by Dr. Herbert Evans, Professor of Anatomy. It took him
some time to decide to make this transfer, but he eventually did so and came to San Francisco to the University Medical School
in 1917 where he applied his art primarily to medical problems in the field of anatomy and surgery but also in other departments
of the medical school. He served the University of California Medical School from 1917 to the date of his death. During one
period of a few years, he tried free lance artistry in his chosen field of work in the Woodland Clinic, Woodland, California.
From this association he was recalled to wider fields of activity that had developed at the University of California. During
this interim an important event occurred, Dr. Sweet met his future wife, Perci Hurst, whom he married and who has been his
devoted and stimulating companion through the years.
He then returned to San Francisco and was with the University of California Medical School until his death. He made a tremendous contribution in the field of medical art, illustrating many books and medical articles emanating from this Medical Center, as well as from other sources that sought his skill. In 1952, he succeeded in establishing a department of art applied to medical science and illustration in the University. This was endowed with a professorship and he then had successive groups of students eager for his instruction and training in this field of work. The contribution he made through these channels has been outstanding. He has come to be ― 95 ―
known as one of the greatest--if not the greatest--medical artist in the United States.
Admittedly, except for those of the medical profession, medical illustration does not always offer the greatest inspiration for fine composition, pleasing layout, or delicacy of production. Many a medical illustration is cold and uncompromising. But it does not bear the signature of Ralph Sweet. Wherever he applied his magic, there was beauty. He understood not only how to present his medical material with the highest degree of accuracy but also how to present it with a phenomenal amount of artistic finesse as well. This rare quality was his, because he brought to his individual field a mind tempered with the understanding of art as a science. In work other than medical he had friends and patrons of art. Ralph Sweet was an extremely generous man. He was always willing to share his vast knowledge with others. If his humor was satiric at times, it never held a personal sting. If he demanded perfection, he did it graciously, and with reason--if unendingly. He carved a unique niche for himself in our School of Medicine. He was always ready to listen--pencil in hand--to reports of the younger men of the faculty. He was a deep source of encouragement to them, and was able to re-create visually their findings, which they told him so eagerly. He was a constant wellspring of information to his students and co-workers and a good friend to all of those whom he accepted as friends. He leaves a department and a field of activity that it will be difficult to endow with a leadership that he so generously provided over the years. His work was not devoted entirely to the field of medical art. He has constantly sought the opportunity to encourage efforts of scientific studies and to convey ideas to the public by means of marvelous illustrations that the publications of the University of California Medical Center have poured out in large volume over the years. ― 96 ―
“Art is long...” Who among us has not heard this familiar saying, which comes to mind so forcibly with the death of Ralph Sweet, our Professor of Medical Illustration. Art was long for him--it was his entire life!
H. F. Traut
H. G. Bell
V. T. Inman
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