This book traces the development of audio description (AD), a form of audiovisual translation delivered orally and consumed aurally that makes visual elements accessible primarily to people who are visually impaired, and in particular, art AD as an emergent sub-genre. Perego reflects on the static arts and the role of modern museums as key sites for art AD and multisensory environments that create memorable experiences for visitors. Based on professional, pre-recorded British and American English AD scripts, this book outlines the textual and linguistic features of art AD and its most relevant textual patterns. It explores diverse AD practices across different contexts, including stand-alone ADs for specific paintings and sculptures that can be consumed independently to enhance the appeal and accessibility of cultural environments. Moreover, the book investigates AD tours, which provide descriptions of a selection of interconnected artworks while also assisting, through focused instructions, visually impaired individuals in navigating the museum space, as well as touch tours, which incorporate procedural instructions on how to experience three-dimensional art or reproductions through tactile senses. Offering unique insights and future research directions for this growing area, this volume will be of interest to students and scholars in translation studies and media accessibility.
Today we associate the Renaissance with painting, sculpture, and architecture—the “major” arts. Yet contemporaries often held the “minor” arts—gem-studded goldwork, richly embellished armor, splendid tapestries and embroideries, music, and ephemeral multi-media spectacles—in much higher esteem. Isabella d’Este, Marchesa of Mantua, was typical of the Italian nobility: she bequeathed to her children precious stone vases mounted in gold, engraved gems, ivories, and antique bronzes and marbles; her favorite ladies-in-waiting, by contrast, received mere paintings. Renaissance patrons and observers extolled finely wrought luxury artifacts for their exquisite craftsmanship and the symbolic capital of their components; paintings and sculptures in modest materials, although discussed by some literati, were of lesser consequence. This book endeavors to return to the mainstream material long marginalized as a result of historical and ideological biases of the intervening centuries. The author analyzes how luxury arts went from being lofty markers of ascendancy and discernment in the Renaissance to being dismissed as “decorative” or “minor” arts—extravagant trinkets of the rich unworthy of the status of Art. Then, by re-examining the objects themselves and their uses in their day, she shows how sumptuous creations constructed the world and taste of Renaissance women and men.
Bridging the fields of conservation, art history, and museum curating, this volume contains the principal papers from an international symposium titled "Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice" at the University of Leiden in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from June 26 to 29, 1995. The symposium—designed for art historians, conservators, conservation scientists, and museum curators worldwide—was organized by the Department of Art History at the University of Leiden and the Art History Department of the Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science in Amsterdam. Twenty-five contributors representing museums and conservation institutions throughout the world provide recent research on historical painting techniques, including wall painting and polychrome sculpture. Topics cover the latest art historical research and scientific analyses of original techniques and materials, as well as historical sources, such as medieval treatises and descriptions of painting techniques in historical literature. Chapters include the painting methods of Rembrandt and Vermeer, Dutch 17th-century landscape painting, wall paintings in English churches, Chinese paintings on paper and canvas, and Tibetan thangkas. Color plates and black-and-white photographs illustrate works from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.
A highly illustrated,important volume inspired by the way craft artists have unitedduring the COVID pandemic and engaged in artistic conversations about race,gender, and inclusivity. During thesummer of 2020, the space outside the Renwick Gallery--the Smithsonian AmericanArt Museum's dedicated museum for contemporary craft and decorative arts--becamehome to a new discussion about racial justice on Black Lives Matter Plaza. Thecurators at the Renwick Gallery felt the need to align themselves with what wasgoing on right outside the Gallery's door, the organizing rationale forunderstanding the objects presented in this volume, many of which are newacquisitions. The title istaken from Alicia Eggert's 2019-2020 eponymous neon work, and the 85 objects inthe main plates section lead the reader from the idea of shelter, throughlayers of expanding spaces to the vast expanses of the universe. The volume looksat contemporary American craft "in the whirlwind of now" revealingpossibilities for contemporary makers to respond to a more empathetic future.
Published to accompany the 1994 exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, this book constitutes the most extensive survey of modern illustrated books to be offered in many years. Work by artists from Pierre Bonnard to Barbara Kruger and writers from Guillaume Apollinarie to Susan Sontag. An importnt reference for collectors and connoisseurs. Includes notable works by Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso.