The Shadow Puppets of Hermann Rorschach
Hermann Rorschach (1884–1922) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst best known for developing the Rorschach inkblot test, a projective psychological assessment designed to explore personality and emotional functioning. Although he had a strong interest in art, he studied medicine in Zürich after his father's death and later became interested in psychoanalysis before publishing Psychodiagnostik in 1921—shortly before his death at thirty-seven from complications of appendicitis. At the time of his death, he was deputy director of the psychiatric hospital in Herisau, where he performed shadow puppet shows for patients that recounted the events of the week. These shadow plays were likely improvised and never preserved; only a small number of cardboard puppets exist in the official archive but are deemed too fragile to handle. The following images were taken for record and have never been published online, widely circulated or exhibited.
Archive for the History of Medicine of the University of Bern, Archives Hermann Rorschach (HR 5.2_12; HR 5.2_01; HR 5.2_02; HR 5.2_03; HR 5.2_04; HR 5.2_06; HR 5.2_07; HR 5.2_14; HR 5.2_16; HR 5.2_17; HR 5.2_26; HR 5.2_34; HR 5.2_35; HR 5.2_36; HR 5.2_37; HR 5.2_38; HR 5.2_42; HR 5.2_45)