The Art of Jama: Covers and Essays from the Journal of the American Medical Association

From the 1880s until the 1960s the weekly covers of The Journal of the American Medical Association displayed only a table of contents. On April 20, 1964, the JAMA cover featured a reproduction of Jan van Eyck's St. Jerome in His Study, a painting chosen to highlight the content of the issue, which was continuing medical education. Since then the covers of JAMA have been adorned by well-recognized as well as newly appreciated works of art. In the 1970s, M. Therese Southgate, MD, became the guardian of this tradition. The art that graces the covers of JAMA and the accompanying essays have provided physicians with not only a refreshing pause in a busy day but often a later topic of conversation among their spouses and children. Often the covers find their way to elementary and high school classrooms, where they are discussed in art appreciation classes. For years, JAMA readers have been urging Dr. Southgate to assemble the covers and essays into a book. The Art of JAMA is the first such collection and features 100 covers chosen from those that were published from 1974 to 1987. Each selection is accompanied by Dr. Southgate's straightforward and fact-filled discussion of the artist and the work. Her essays describe the background of the artist and the circumstances under which the work was completed, followed by commentary on the work itself plus any personal insights.