Scientific Illustration: On the Border Between Science and Art

The Zoomedicum collections of the Estonian University of Life Sciences include, alongside anatomical, orthopaedic and other museum objects, original scientific illustrations commissioned from artists for use in veterinary textbooks.

The library presents a small selection from the collection of veterinary illustrations – histological drawings by Hilda Kamdron. For several generations of veterinary students, these precise and detailed images have helped make the microscopic structures of animal tissues visible and comprehensible.

Displayed alongside the original illustrations are university textbooks, reference works and other publications featuring Kamdron’s drawings. Together, they offer a glimpse into the artist’s remarkable versatility and her ability to engage deeply with a wide range of subjects.

Hilda Kamdron (1900/1901–1972) was an Estonian artist renowned as one of the most precise draughtsmen and watercolourists associated with the Pallas school.

She entered the Pallas Art School in 1922. Financial difficulties prolonged her studies, and she eventually graduated in graphic art from the Tartu State Art Institute in 1946.

Kamdron’s exceptional powers of observation and highly precise drawing skills enabled her to work as an illustrator across a remarkably diverse range of fields. She produced illustrations for textbooks on veterinary medicine, medicine and natural sciences, as well as for encyclopaedias and publications on Estonian folk costumes.

Her work stands at the intersection of scientific accuracy and artistic skill, demonstrating how illustration can transform complex knowledge into a clear and visually compelling form.