Clarice Ashworth Francone medical illustration collection

Clarice Margaret Ashworth was born March 24, 1901 in Rochester, Minnesota. After graduating from high school, she worked at the Mayo Clinic in the art department, and then studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. She spent her second year of medical illustration study at Johns Hopkins University, training under Max Bröedel, considered the father of medical illustration. After another stint at the Mayo Clinic, Ashworth moved to Oregon in 1929. She worked as a freelance illustrator and, in 1936, began working part-time at the University of Oregon Medical School, 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, for some of which she is credited as co-author. Perhaps the best known of these is an anatomy and physiology textbook, Structure and Function of Man, which she co-authored with Dr. Stanley Jacob, professor of surgery at the University of Oregon Medical School. She prepared over 600 illustrations for this work.

Much of Francone’s work consists of half-tones done with carbon crayon on Ross board, with ink and white highlights added to sharpen 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 contribute samples of her work to the Archives of Medical Visual Resources at the Countway Library, Harvard University. Francone died in September, 1981.