 .jpg) |
A detail is an isolated element within a work of art, particularly from a painting, sculpture or building.
Overview
A detail is distinct from the general composition of a work of art. The art historian Jennifer Raab of Yale University describes it as inherently contradictory: "it can delineate difference or emphasize unity". She furthers that "the detail always points away from itself to something else–to other parts of a picture, to the work of art as a whole".
When a detail is reproduced, this is noted in the work of art's caption.
References
- ^ "detail, n.: 4a.". OED Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 3 June 2023. (subscription required)
- ^ Raab, Jennifer (2015). Frederic Church: The Art and Science of Detail. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-300-21286-0.
Further reading
- Arasse, Daniel (1992). Le détail: pour une histoire rapprochée de la peinture [The Detail: For a Close History of Painting] (in French). Paris: Flammarion. ISBN 978-2-08-010962-0. OCLC 231856097.
 | This art criticism-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |