Harold Adams Collection

Born in Laurel County, KY, Harold Adams graduated from Berea College in 1948.  He would go on to obtain his medical degree in obstetrics and gynecology from the State University of New York, College of Medicine, Brooklyn. After graduating, Dr. Adams took a position in St. Paul to start his obstetric career. In 1980, at the age of 62, after contracting a life-threatening form of hepatitis (an industry health hazard at the time), Adams could no longer practice medicine.  At this time he turned to his long-time interest in the arts and started taking art classes. At the age of 69, he enrolled as an MFA candidate at the University of Minnesota. The story goes that he immediately began working on a series of large paintings of his diseased blood cells. He continued to ‘paint himself well’ and five years later was given an all-clear diagnosis – almost unheard of without any kind of drug therapy or medical intervention. Every single piece he paints is a self-narrative of some kind – personal, abstract and highly evocative. His art is displayed and housed throughout the United States and has been exhibited at the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis and at Berea College, including in Hutchins Library.  An endowed Biology Scholarship for Berea students was created by Sharon Labovitz in honor of Dr. Adams.  Adams also received his MFA from the University of Minnesota.