Winter 2002
Clarice Ashworth Francone
Clarice Margaret Ashworth was born in Rochester, Minnesota, in 1901.
After graduating from high school, she worked at the Mayo Clinic in the
art depatment, studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, and spent her
second year of medical illustration study at John Hopkins University,
training under Max Broedel, considered the father of medical
illustration. In 1936 she began working part-time at the University of
Oregon Medical School and eventually becoming head of the Medical
Illustration Department.
For many years, Francone was the only medical
illustrator in Oregon. In addition to preparing charts and diagrams for
medical students and presentations by physicians, Francone illustrated a
number of books. The best known of these is an anatomy and physiology
textbook, Structure and Function of Man, which she co-authored with
OHSU's Stanley Jacob, M.D. She prepared over 600 illustrations for this
work. Much of Francone's stunning work consists of half-tones done with
carbon crayon on Ross board, with ink and white highlights added to
sharpen the images. She also prepared a number of pen and ink charts and
diagrams.
Before retiring from the University of Oregon Medical School in
1969, Francone was asked to donate samples of her work to the Archives of
Medical Visual Resources at the Countway Library, Harvard University. Ms.
Francone died in September 1981. Illustrations used in the Francone
exhibit are from the Clarice Ashworth Francone Collection, donated by the
Francone Estate to the OHSU Library.
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