http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
surface, finish and the meaning of objects
xiv, 215 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of color plates : illustrations ; 25 cm.
Surfaces are often held to be of lesser consequence than 'deeper' or more 'substantive' aspects of artworks and objects. Yet it is also possible to conceive of the surface in more positive terms as a site where complex forces meet. Surfaces can be theorized as membranes, protective shells, sensitive skins, even thicknesses in their own right. The surface is not so much a barrier to content as an opportunity for encounter: in new objects, the surface is the site of qualities of finish, texture, the site of tactile interaction, the last point of contact between object and maker and the first point of contact between object and user. This book includes sixteen essays that explore this theoretically uncharted terrain. The subjects range widely, from domestic maintenance, avant-garde fashion, the faking of antiques; postmodern architecture and design to contemporary film costume. Of particular emphasis within the volume are textiles, which are among the most complex and culturally rich materialisations of surface.
A superficial guide to the deeper meanings of surface -- Surface and practice -- Layering : materiality, time and touch in Japanese lacquer -- Patina and the bourgeoisie : the appearance of the past in nineteenth-century Paris -- A falsification of temporality : carpet distressing in Morocco -- Textiles and time : conservation and public response -- Surface engagements at Astana -- 'No less dangerous to use than that of a Basilisk' : skin and seventeenth century English embroideries -- Colour, language and light in mid-nineteenth century women's fashion -- Wifedressing : designing femininity in 1950s American fashion -- Long coats, flowing fabrics : fashioning masculinity and desire in film and television -- Surface as material, material into surface : dialectic in C.C.P. -- Surface recognition : light and reflection in mid nineteenth-century drawing rooms -- A theory of the paint-by-number surface -- The materiality of print : issues of artifice and integrity related to the printed ceramid surface -- Substance abuse : the postmodern surface.
edited by Glenn Adamson and Victoria Kelley.
"This book is the final outcome of the Surface Tensions research network, convened in 2009 as a partnership between the University for the Creative Arts and the Victoria and Albert Museum"--Page xv.
Includes bibliographical references and index.