The matter of mimesis : studies of mimesis and materials in nature, art and science

"Mimesis or imitation comes in many forms, from animal and plant mimicry to artistic copies 'from life'. This book offers eighteen essays addressing mimesis from diverse perspectives. From the recreation of galaxies to Iron Age torcs, from counterfeit dragons to modern waxworks, each chapter explores facets of material mimesis from prehistory to the present day. The Matter of Mimesis invites readers to compare practices of imitating, faking, and synthesising materials and objects in nature, art and science, raising questions about skills, techniques and politics of making that transcend historical and disciplinary boundaries and inform both our past and future worlds"-- Provided by publisher Contents Figures Notes on Contributors Introduction Part I Substitution Introduction 1 Counterfeiting Materials, Imitating Nature 2 Looking into Renaissance Wood Intarsia 3 Firing Porphyry in the Italian Renaissance Kiln Part II Added-Value Introduction 4 More (or Less) Than Meets the Eye? Torcs of the European Iron Age 5 Nomadic Silver: Refinement, Transaction, Transformation 6 Restoring, Patinating, Copying, Faking Material Authenticity Part III Materialising the Impossible Introduction 7 Fictitiousness in Non-Polychrome Renaissance Sculpture 8 The Fleshiness of Bronze 9 Anatomical Preparations and Mimetic Expertise 10 The Fleshiness of Wax Part IV Preservation Introduction 11 Scales, Skins, and Carapaces in Antwerp Collections 12 ‘Some Slight Eruptive Disease’: Victorian Verisimilitude in Photography and Plastercasting 13 Time and Its Teeth: On Art, Survival and Material Part V Making Material Knowledge Introduction 14 Fake Specimens in the Renaissance 15 Fertile Stones 16 Embodied Making Part VI Mimesis Beyond ‘Matter’? Introduction 17 Material as Subtext in Ephemeral Art 18 “Mock Observations” of Galaxies Looking Back, Crafting Futures Afterword Index