PAGNY's Dr. Eric Altschuler Published in the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Last month, PAGNY’s Eric L. Altschuler, MD, PhD, was published in the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation! Co-authored with PAGNY’s Crystal Morgan, the article “Museum Meanderings XII: E-Museum Jacob Lawrence Paintings and Rehabilitation Medicine” delves into artmaking as a form of occupational therapy through the works of Jacob Lawrence.

Lawrence was an African-American painter who, during the Harlem Renaissance, redefined artistic representations of the Black experience in the U.S. Lawrence was a self-described “dynamic cubist,” and drew inspiration from the shapes and colors of Harlem. Migration Series—in which Lawrence depicted the great migration of African-Americans out of the rural south and into the urban north in the first half of the twentieth century—almost immediately garnered him a place in the American art historical canon.

In 1949, Lawrence checked himself into Hillside Hospital in Queens, and stayed there for eleven months to receive treatment for his depression. While there, he produced works like Occupational Therapy No. 1, Creative Therapy, Recreational Therapy, and Occupational Therapy No. 2. Dr. Altschuler argues that these paintings demonstrate the multifaceted approach to occupational therapy that still exists in NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, of which he is the Associate Chief of Clinical Research.

PAGNY once again extends congratulations to Dr. Altschuler on the publication of his important and inspiring piece, “Museum Meanderings XII: E-Museum Jacob Lawrence Paintings and Rehabilitation Medicine."

Find Dr. Altschuler’s article here.