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Dinesh / Photos

Adam and Eve

Albert Durer - 1504

Durer’s print shows the fine detail and rich effects of texture that could be created in engraving – qualities that led it to succeed woodcut as the main technique for book illustrations
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Dinesh said:

The woodcut illustrations in the Chronicle wee produced in the worship of Michael Wolgemut, who taught Albert Durer, and the book was published by Anton Koberger, Durer’s God father. Durer himself produced numerous woodcut book illustrations, but he also made copper engravings, which eventually superseded woodcuts for most illustrative purposes. Woodcuts were in some ways better suited to illustrations than engravings: they were cheaper and could be printed on the same press as was used for typography. Engravings required a heavier press, and therefore had to be printed separately from the text, but they had the great advantage of producing more detailed and subtle images, and this proved the decisive factor……

A Chrolology of Art
9 days ago

Dinesh said:

Albrecht Dürer
9 days ago ( translate )

Dinesh said:

Is there anything left to say about Adam and Eve, quite literally the oldest story in the book? The engraving of Adam and Eve of 1504 by the German renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer recasts this familiar story with nuances of meaning and artistic innovation. In the picture, Adam and Eve stand together in a dense, dark forest. Far from the garden evoked in Genesis, this forest is distinctly German, the dark woods of the devils and spooks of Grimm’s fairy tales. Foreign and unexpected motifs intrude into this German wood.

Despite the chill of the forest, the two human figures appear nude. Their bodies are frontal, and they stand in a classical contrapposto, or counterpoise, where the weight of the body is shifted onto one foot. The corresponding shift in hips and shoulders creating a convincing illusion of a body capable of movement but temporarily at rest. Despite this apparent naturalism, their heads are turned to the side as they gaze at one another. This twisting configuration of head and body is distinctly artificial. The naturalizing contrapposto clashing with the artificiality of the rest of the pose establishes a pattern of contradictions that run throughout the picture. A seemingly astutely observed tree becomes distinctly odd, as we recognize that Eve is plucking an apple from a tree with fig leaves. A parrot, a tropical bird, perches on a branch to the viewer’s left. Six other animals stroll disinterestedly through or stand about—an elk, ox, cat, rabbit, mouse, and goat.

smarthistory.org/durer-adam-and-eve
9 days ago
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