Fleshing out surfaces
Skin in French art and medicine, 1650–1850
Series edited by Amelia Jones, Mechthild Fend, Marsha Meskimmon
Description
More Information
Endorsements
Fleshing out surfaces considers flesh and skin in art theory, image making and medical discourse in seventeenth to nineteenth-century France. It describes a gradual shift between the early modern and the modern period and argues that what artists made when imitating human nakedness was not always the same.Initially understood in terms of the body's substance, of flesh tones and body colour, it became increasingly a matter of skin, skin colour and surfaces. Skin is the most significant surface for artistic imitation and flesh has often been described as a privileged site of life and lifelikeness. Skin and flesh entertain complex metaphorical relationships with artefacts, images and image making: fabricated surfaces are often described as skins, skin and colour have a longstanding connection and paint is frequently associated with flesh. This book traces the shift in the terminology of art theory and in the practices of painting, as well as engraving, colour printing and drawing. Each chapter is dedicated to a different notion of skin and its colour, from flesh tones via a membrane imbued with nervous energy to hermetic borderline. Looking in particular at works by Fragonard, David, Girodet, Benoist and Ingres, the focus is on portraits, as facial skin is a special arena for testing and theorising painterly skills and a site where the body and the image made of it become equally expressive. Fleshing out surfaces is essential reading for scholars and students of art history, visual culture, the medical humanities, the history of science and French history.
Author Biography
Mechthild Fend is Reader in History of Art at University College London. Dorothy C. Rowe is Senior Lecturer in History of Art at the University of Bristol.
Manchester University Press
Manchester University Press is a leading UK publisher known for excellent research in the humanities and social sciences.
View all titlesSeries Part
Bibliographic Information
- Publisher Manchester University Press
- Publication Date October 2016
- Orginal LanguageEnglish
- ISBN/Identifier 9781526104663 / 1526104660
- Publication Country or regionUnited Kingdom
- FormatDigital
- Primary Price 114 GBP
- Pages376
- ReadershipGeneral
- Publish StatusPublished
- Dimensions234 x 156 mm
- IllustrationHalftones, colour|Illustrations, black & white
- Biblio Notes1. Introduction 2. The surface's substance 3. Nervous canvas 4. Limite sensitive 5. Skin colour 6. Seeing through the skin 7. Hermetic borderline 8. Epilogue: segregation Index
- SeriesRethinking Art's Histories
- Reference Code9780719087967
Manchester University Press has chosen to review this offer before it proceeds.
You will receive an email update that will bring you back to complete the process.
You can also check the status in the My Offers area
Please wait while the payment is being prepared.
Do not close this window.