The Deceptive Surface: Perception and Sculpture’s “Skin”
In the eighteenth century, sculptors such as Antonio Canova often experimented with polychromy, using wax or grind water to subtly tint their figures’ flesh. In this article, I examine viewers’ discomfort with these surface treatments. I argue that viewers reacted negatively to the colored surface o...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | fra |
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Centre d´Histoire et Théorie des Arts
2017-01-01
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| Series: | Images Re-Vues |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/imagesrevues/3931 |
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| author | Christina Ferando |
| author_facet | Christina Ferando |
| author_sort | Christina Ferando |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In the eighteenth century, sculptors such as Antonio Canova often experimented with polychromy, using wax or grind water to subtly tint their figures’ flesh. In this article, I examine viewers’ discomfort with these surface treatments. I argue that viewers reacted negatively to the colored surface of works such as Hebe and Penitent Magdalene because they found it to be deceptive. First, encaustic treatments mellowed the marble surface, giving modern works the appearance of antiquities. Second, the “reality effect” created by color threatened sculpture’s status as high art. Finally, hyper-realism also suggested that the sculpture’s surface was exactly that—that is to say, only a surface, a shell that contained the messy reality of the body. The polychrome surface therefore oscillated between ancient and modern, flesh and stone, penetrable and impenetrable and raised larger aesthetic, philosophical and scientific issues. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-25fe9a7f214e44239048e3974a323857 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1778-3801 |
| language | fra |
| publishDate | 2017-01-01 |
| publisher | Centre d´Histoire et Théorie des Arts |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Images Re-Vues |
| spelling | doaj-art-25fe9a7f214e44239048e3974a3238572024-12-09T15:50:42ZfraCentre d´Histoire et Théorie des ArtsImages Re-Vues1778-38012017-01-011310.4000/imagesrevues.3931The Deceptive Surface: Perception and Sculpture’s “Skin”Christina FerandoIn the eighteenth century, sculptors such as Antonio Canova often experimented with polychromy, using wax or grind water to subtly tint their figures’ flesh. In this article, I examine viewers’ discomfort with these surface treatments. I argue that viewers reacted negatively to the colored surface of works such as Hebe and Penitent Magdalene because they found it to be deceptive. First, encaustic treatments mellowed the marble surface, giving modern works the appearance of antiquities. Second, the “reality effect” created by color threatened sculpture’s status as high art. Finally, hyper-realism also suggested that the sculpture’s surface was exactly that—that is to say, only a surface, a shell that contained the messy reality of the body. The polychrome surface therefore oscillated between ancient and modern, flesh and stone, penetrable and impenetrable and raised larger aesthetic, philosophical and scientific issues.https://journals.openedition.org/imagesrevues/3931Antonio Canovaeighteenth-century sculpturepolychromysurfaceillusionismdeception |
| spellingShingle | Christina Ferando The Deceptive Surface: Perception and Sculpture’s “Skin” Images Re-Vues Antonio Canova eighteenth-century sculpture polychromy surface illusionism deception |
| title | The Deceptive Surface: Perception and Sculpture’s “Skin” |
| title_full | The Deceptive Surface: Perception and Sculpture’s “Skin” |
| title_fullStr | The Deceptive Surface: Perception and Sculpture’s “Skin” |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Deceptive Surface: Perception and Sculpture’s “Skin” |
| title_short | The Deceptive Surface: Perception and Sculpture’s “Skin” |
| title_sort | deceptive surface perception and sculpture s skin |
| topic | Antonio Canova eighteenth-century sculpture polychromy surface illusionism deception |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/imagesrevues/3931 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT christinaferando thedeceptivesurfaceperceptionandsculpturesskin AT christinaferando deceptivesurfaceperceptionandsculpturesskin |