Drapery

In the late 18th and early 19th century, French art critics and artists debated the nature of ideal beauty and how to replicate this in art. The premise today is that this neoclassical Greek ideal was symbolised by the male nude figure, while the historical and aesthetic importance of antique costume has been underplayed.  In Napoleonic France there was disagreement over whether figures should be dressed, draped in antique costume, or nude in art.  Instead of focusing on nudity as a way in which to explore the nature and visual definition of ideal beauty  I use drapery as a 'visual approach' to the topic. A range of new  historical, philosophical and aesthetic insights have resulted from this approach.

This chapter of my book "Veiled Presence" explores how Lotto's images of the clothed body communicate a novel sense of being-in-the-world. In Lotto's paintings dress or drapery is possessed in both senses of the word: it proclaims ownership, but it is also stirred by strange animation. The intimate textiles of domestic life, including veils, kerchiefs and towels energize Lotto's smaller religious paintings, while his larger ones are enlivened by the movement of ritual drapes, such as vestments, altar cloths and curtains.  Such cloths function at times as "transitional objects", mediating between the real, the fictive and the imaginary.  Clothes disguise and drapery may hide or withold, as when a cloth is laid over a mirror.  It signals both remembering and forgetting.

Scholarly attention to late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century French art has focused on the importance that Johann Joachim Winckelmann attributed to the male nude figure in his definition of ideal beauty, and the impact of his work on debates over the 'beau ideal' in French art and art criticism. In contrast, Winckelmann's extensive interest in the detail of ancient costume, the folds of drapery, and the teleological and aesthetic significance that he ascribed to them, has been underplayed. The role played by costume and drapery as components of the 'beau ideal' in French art and aesthetics has also not been fully explored. This thesis examines the way in which costume and drapery formed an important component and embodiment of ideal beauty in the work of Winckelmann and in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century French artistic circles, providing new insights into the arguments over the meanings of Truth, Beauty and Nature in this period. The thesis...

Írásomban Gilles Deleuze munkásságának egy részét kísérlem bemutatni és elemezni, illusztrálva olyan általam készített munkákkal is, amelyek vizuálisan érzékeltethetik a deleuze--i kérdéskört. Fontosnak tartom az elmélet és a gyakorlat paralel megismerését, értelmezését. Munkáimat nem Deleuze inspirálta, tőle függetlenül jöttek létre. Miután találkoztam írásaival, szembetűnt a hasonlóság -az elmélet véletlenszerű egybeesése a gyakorlattal, nem várt koincidencia.

Scholarly attention to late eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century French art has focused on the importance that Johann Joachim Winckelmann attributed to the male nude figure in his definition of ideal beauty, and the impact of his work on debates over the 'beau idéal' in French art and art criticism. In contrast, Winckelmann's extensive interest in the detail of ancient costume, the folds of drapery, and the teleological and aesthetic significance that he ascribed to them, has been underplayed. The role played by costume and drapery as components of the 'beau idéal' in French art and aesthetics has also not been fully explored. This thesis examines the way in which costume and drapery formed an important component and embodiment of ideal beauty in the work of Winckelmann and in late eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century French artistic circles, providing new insights into the arguments over the meanings of Truth, Beauty and Nature in this period.

This paper discusses about study options of topographic concentration medieval craft in inside the medieval city Brno and its suburbs. Recapitulates the current state of research and and presents new possibilities for this research on the example of selected crafts blacksmiths, locksmiths, butchers and drapers.

This article investigates a fashion trend during the first half of the 2010’s for a garment that looked little like the indigenous kimono, was often designed and manufactured in centers other than Japan and was largely intended for consumption outside of Japan, but none-the-less was marketed as kimono. Rather than reflecting on the ways in which this trend could be viewed as another example of cultural appropriation in the fashion industry or demonstrative of the fashion industry’s attempt to maximize profit by flooding the market with endless variations of these garments that resonate rather tired Orientalized stereotypes, this article examines how the ways in which the kimono has been transformed as it moves through time and across borders resonate with this trend and seeks to better understand the political, social, cultural and economic drivers behind such transformations. It also brings to light new developments in this garment’s cultural meanings.

The XIVth century was one of the most turbulent ones in history of Flanders. Rich and powerful Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres ('Three cities') rose against their seigneurs several times reducing the power of the counts in their lands. But how far did the influence and control of 'Three cities' over the territory of Flanders stretch? Traditional conception, given in the 'classical' works of A. Pirenn, has been reconsidering since 1970-s. Flanders was one of the most urbanised regions of Europe, and a kind of 'urban agglomerations' of smaller towns were forming around Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres during this period. These towns as well as numerous other Flemish urban centers, sittuated farther from Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres, were in competition with their crafts and commerce. 'Three cities' sought for 'monopoly' for the production of export-oriented drapery that led to its ban on the territories neighbour with 'Three cities'. But the 'monopolies' of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres opposed the interests of less powerful neigbour towns. So they continued to produce the forbiden types of drapes despite the bans. Numerous documets give us the information about such conflicts and show that even the use of the military forces ('militia') and the destruction of weaving looms by Ghent and Ypres during the revolts could not stop the production and sale of forbiden drapery in towns that disregarded the ban. Article deals with one of the most illustrative examples: the struggle of Ghent against Dendermonde that ignored Ghent's 'monopoly and produced the drapes very similar to Ghent's ones. Faced with the threat of siege and destruction dy Ghent's militia during the Flemish revolt of 1338—1346 Dendermonde allied the count of Flanders Louis de Nevers. The example of Dendermonde shows that Flemish towns discontented with monopolies given to Ghent, Ypres, and Bruges formed the power that the counts of Flanders could use to decrease the influence of 'Three cities' in Flanders. As for Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres, they could not or probably did not want to increase their authority usurping the jurisdiction of their rulers over the wide range of problems. The prerogative of counts to grant new privileges to towns and to settle the conflicts of economical relations between their subjects was always one of these important competencies.

This paper (in French) examines the art of folding napkins which decorated the tables of Renaissance princely banquets. The first part focuses on the visual and textual sources testifying both to the interest and sensitivity to folds in the culture of Renaissance patrons and painters. The second part discusses the practice of the fold and the last one sets this minor and ephemeral art in the context of the sensory and intellectual gratifications emblematic of Renaissance banqueting .