Magnificent Monstrosity

Riva Lehrer: Blue Veronika, 1999, gouache on amate paper, 36 by 24 inches.
In the 1940s, artist Riva Lehrer’s mother worked as a medical researcher in the then nascent field of teratology. From the Greek teratos, or “monster,” teratology is the study of birth defects. So in 1958, when Riva was born with spina bifida, which means “split spine,” her mother knew better than to accept the medical mainstream’s casual neglect. At the time, doctors didn’t opera