Albrecht Dürer's Material World - by Edward H Wouk & Jennifer Spinks (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

The painter and printmaker Albrecht Dürer is one of the most important figures of the German Renaissance. This book accompanies the first major exhibition of the Whitworth art gallery's outstanding Dürer collection in over half a century. It offers a new perspective on Dürer as an intense observer of the worlds of manufacture, design and trade that fill his graphic art.

Artworks and artefacts examined here expose understudied aspects of Dürer's art and practice, including his attentive examination of objects of daily domestic use, his involvement in economies of local manufacture and exchange, the microarchitectures of local craft and, finally, his attention to cultures of natural and philosophical inquiry and learning.

From the Back Cover

Albrecht Dürer was an intense observer of the worlds of manufacture, design and trade that he encountered in his home city of Nuremberg and on his travels. This catalogue accompanies the first exhibition of the Whitworth's outstanding Dürer collection in over half a century. In ten essays and thematic texts, it juxtaposes Dürer's celebrated woodcuts, engravings and etchings with objects from his time, ranging from a humble pair of scissors to astounding examples of German Renaissance metalwork, book printing, ceramics and textile manufacture.

Leading scholars offer insight into how a changing material world, shaped by expanding European and global networks, helped spark artistic creativity and major innovations in design and craft in Dürer's Nuremberg and beyond. The catalogue also includes an in-depth study of the Whitworth's recently restored pietà sculpture and brings a new perspective to the role that local collectors - many involved in trade, industry and design - played in amassing one of the most significant holdings of this artist's graphic work in the United Kingdom.

About the Author

Edward H. Wouk is Reader in Art History and Cultural Practices at the University of Manchester
Jennifer Spinks is Hansen Associate Professor in History at the University of Melbourne