User:Cmtilos/Anna Christina Olson

Anna Christina Olson (3 May 1893-27 January 1968) was the subject of multiple paintings by Andrew Wyeth. She possibly suffered from an undiagnosed variant of Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease. She has become a icon within the community of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease afflicted sufferers. She has also appeared in popular culture via her appearance in Christina's World.

Biography
Anna Christina Olson was born on 3 May 1893 in Maine, She and her brother Alvaro inherited the Olson House (Cushing, Maine) in Cushing, Maine from their mother in 1929. She lost the use of her legs due to a unknown disease doctors could not diagnose her with. She could not walk and was housebound most of the time, occasionally going outside and crawling around. In her later years, she was on friendly terms with Andrew Wyeth as he had a summer home and was introduced to Christina and Alvaro by Andrew's future wife, Betsy James.

On one of her times outside crawling around, Andrew Wyeth witnessed this action and was inspired to paint Christina's World. She was used as a secondary model for her legs, arms, and head. Betsy was the primary model, being used for the torso. She was 55 at the time.

She passed away in 1969, a year after her brother Alvaro passed away in 1967. They are buried in the Olson family cemetery at the house. Afterwards, her appearance in the painting was critiqued by art critics and many medical experts searched for the possible cause of her symptoms. In 2016, experts finally diagnosed her with a possible unknown variant of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease.

Significance in the CMT community
Those afflicted by Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, often afflicted to CMT for short (and label themselves as CMTer), have rallied around Christina as a central figure for representation of their shared experience facing CMT. Many CMTers "identify with the image of Olson as painted by Wyeth, contorted hands and all. Others see the painting as championing CMT — a reference point for the greater world that is, in general, completely ignorant of CMT."

Appearance in popular culture
Because of her appearance in Christina's World, she could be said to be the most represented case of a person afflicted with CMT. She has appeared in the following:


 * 2001: A Space Odyssey, a novel by Arthur C. Clarke, Christina's World is one of the two paintings appearing on the living room wall of "an elegant, anonymous hotel suite” to which the astronaut David Bowman is transported to after passing through the Star Gate.
 * In the comic series Preacher (comics) by Garth Ennis, issue #28 shows a character admiring the painting at the Museum of Modern Art. Later, issue #43 is called "Christina's World", which contains a reference to the previous story and an analysis comparing another character's predicament to the painting.
 * The painting is a prop in the film Oblivion (2013 film).
 * The painting appears in the Australian horror film Next of Kin (1982 film)
 * The paiting is discussed and shown in The In Crowd (2000 film), an American Thriller.
 * Christina and her appearance in the film is discussed in a New York Times Article.
 * The painting is on the wall of Katagaki Naomi's room in 2019 Japanese animation movie Hello World (film)
 * The painting is featured in the fictional adventure podcast Rabbits (podcast) in episode 103 "Marigold and Persephone", but the protagonist notices that there are a different number of windows in the farmhouse. This difference is a vital clue that helps solve part of the mystery.
 * The painting appears in War on Everyone, a 2016 British war film. During a scene where Terry looks at a reproduction hanging on a wall in Jackie's house, Terry comments that "It's kinda creepy. It's like something bad's gonna happen but there's nothing she can do about it."
 * A print of the painting was seen periodically in episodes in the last three seasons of the American television series That Girl, a ABC sitcom/ It first appeared hung on the wall parallel to the bed in the apartment bedroom of title character Ann Marie. In episode number 84 (season 3, episode 24), “It’s So Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House,” that aired on March 13, 1969. In episode number 111 (season 4, episode 25), “Easy Faller, it had been moved to the wall above the headboard of the bed. It stayed there for the remainder of the series.