Published to accompany the exhibition of the same title at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, 5 January-3 May 2021. Includes bibliographical references.
Contents:
The human touch / Suzanne Reynolds and Elenor Ling -- An anatomy of touch, sense, hands, skin / Suzanne Reynolds -- Raymond Antrobus, 'On touch' -- Hands at work / Jane Munro -- Taking hold: communication, possession, emotion / Eleanor Ling -- RUN, 'My many hands' -- The power of touch / Suzanne Reynolds -- Revere/destroy / Elenor Ling and Suzanne Reynolds -- The power is in your hands -- Carmen Mariscal, 'On bound hands' -- A show of hands / Richard Mark Rawlins.
Summary:
Touch is our first sense. Through touch we make art, stake a claim to what we own and those we love, express our faith, our belief, our anger. Touch is how we leave our mark and find our place in the world; touch is how we connect. Drawing on works of art spanning four thousand years and from across the globe, this book explores the fundamental role of touch in human experience, and offers new ways of looking. In a series of lavishly illustrated essays, the authors explore anatomy and skin; the relationship between the brain, hand, and creativity; touch, desire and possession; ideological touch; reverence and iconoclasm. A final section collects a range of reflections, historic and contemporary, on touch. Objects range from anonymous ancient Egyptian limestone sculpture, to medieval manuscripts and panel paintings, to devotional and spiritual objects from across the world, to love tokens and fede rings. Drawings, paintings, prints and sculpture by Raphael, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Carracci, Hogarth, Turner, Rodin, Degas, and Kollwitz are explored, along with work by contemporary artists Judy Chicago, Frank Auerbach, Richard Long, the Chapman Brothers, and Richard Rawlins. The events of 2020 have made us newly alive to the preciousness and the dangers of touch, making this exploration of our most fundamental sense particularly timely and resonant. Exhibition: The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK (05.01.-03.05.2021).
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.