Fleshing out Surfaces: Skin in French Art and Medicine, 1650–1850 (Rethinking Art's Histories) - Hardcover

Fend, Mechthild

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0719087961 ISBN 13: 9780719087967

Publisher: Manchester University Press, 2016

Synopsis

Fleshing out surfaces is the first English-language book on skin and flesh tones in art. It considers flesh and skin in art theory, image making and medical discourse in seventeenth to nineteenth-century France. Describing a gradual shift between the early modern and the modern period, it 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. 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 painterly skills and a site where the body and the image become equally expressive. -- .

About this title

About the Author

Mechthild Fend is Reader in History of Art at University College London -- .

From the Back Cover

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.

From the Inside Flap

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.

Edition details

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0719087961
• ISBN 13: 9780719087967
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352