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Near life : the Gipsformerei : 200 years of casting plaster / Veronika Tocha ; edited by Christina Haak, Miguel Helfrich and Veronika Tocha ; photography by Philip Radowitz.

By: Contributor(s): Publication details: London : Prestel, 2019.Description: 263 pages : illustrations (black and white, and colour), photographs ; 30 cmISBN:
  • 9783791359403
  • 3791359401
  • 9783886098293
  • 388609829X
Other title:
  • Nah am Leben
  • Gipsformerei 200 years of casting plaster
Subject(s):
Contents:
Near life: the Gipsformerei: 200 years of casting plaster / Veronika Tocha
STILL LIFES AND NATURE MORTE -- Polar bear.STL / Samuel Jerichow and Joachim Weinhold -- After nature, near nature? The plant casts from Moritz Meurer's collection of teaching aids / Angela Nikolai -- Cennino Cennini, Il libro dell'arte (ca.1400)
TOO NEAR TO LIFE -- Anthropological casts in the collection of the Gipsformerei: a stocktaking / Veronika Tocha -- Lost moulds / Margit Berner, Britta Lange, Thomas Schelper and Kerstin Stoll -- Sandow in plaster of Paris: a unique cast (1902)
ULTIMATE LIFE -- Can that still be called art? Death masks as tools for sculptors / Moritz Siebert -- Excursus: Galvanoplastics. A recipe for artificial creation and eternal life? / Jörg Völlnagel
IN THE ARTIST'S STUDIO -- Pars pro toto: The Kunstgewerbemuseum casts of body parts in the collection of the Gipsformerei / Veronika Tocha -- Meeting at the workshop of Thutmose: two casts from Tell el-Amarna / Friederike Seyfried and Nadine Thieme -- Terra incognita: lifecasts of antiquity / Manuel Flecker
THE CASE AGAINST CASTS - Casting as art / a conversation with Asta Gröting 'Berlin supplies the world with Gods': the history of the Gipsformerei, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1819-2019 / Hans Georg Hillen von Gaertringen -- Conservation and restoration at the Gipsformerei: mission, challenges and prospects / Aurelia Badde, Lothar Bogdanski, Jan Bürgel, Fabian Burg, Johanna Gassmann, Susanne Grimm, Cornelia Hoppe, Peter John-Schoubye, Timo Klöppel, Stefan Kramer, Daniel Meyer, Sandro di Michele, Marc Miniers, Rainer Palau, Thomas Schelper, Andreas Schipka, Robin Schulz and Hardy Zaubitzer -- Glossary: Technology and Craftsmanship at the Gipsformerei / Fabian Burg, Thomas Schelper and Timo Klöppel -- Transformation as a concept: notes on the exhibition architecture / Hanne König and Nicolas Rauch
Summary: For the last two centuries the Gipsformerei - or Reproduction Workshop - in Berlin has produced outstanding plaster cast replicas of some of the most famous works in the history of sculpture. Still in operation today, it is one of the oldest and most expansive institutions of its kind. Its archives hold several thousand original master models and molds-of artworks and artefacts up to 25,000 years old. To celebrate the Gipsformerei's anniversary, this book explores the cultural history of the casting technique that has been carefully perfected by the workshop. As one of the world's oldest artistic techniques, plaster casting has been used by artists from antiquity to the present to depict life. This book focuses on casts of animals and plants, European death masks and life casts, as well as sculptural masterpieces and contemporary works of art. Featuring more than two hundred extraordinary sculptures and objects from the collection of the Gipsformerei, complemented by pieces from international collections, this publication is one of the first to showcase the casts as works of art in their own right.
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Barcode
Book Book CGLAS Library Pink 731.45 TOC (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 13113

Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, James-Simon-Galerie, Berlin, August 30, 2019-March 1, 2020.

Includes bibliographical references (page 262).

Near life: the Gipsformerei: 200 years of casting plaster / Veronika Tocha

STILL LIFES AND NATURE MORTE -- Polar bear.STL / Samuel Jerichow and Joachim Weinhold -- After nature, near nature? The plant casts from Moritz Meurer's collection of teaching aids / Angela Nikolai -- Cennino Cennini, Il libro dell'arte (ca.1400)

TOO NEAR TO LIFE -- Anthropological casts in the collection of the Gipsformerei: a stocktaking / Veronika Tocha -- Lost moulds / Margit Berner, Britta Lange, Thomas Schelper and Kerstin Stoll -- Sandow in plaster of Paris: a unique cast (1902)

ULTIMATE LIFE -- Can that still be called art? Death masks as tools for sculptors / Moritz Siebert -- Excursus: Galvanoplastics. A recipe for artificial creation and eternal life? / Jörg Völlnagel

IN THE ARTIST'S STUDIO -- Pars pro toto: The Kunstgewerbemuseum casts of body parts in the collection of the Gipsformerei / Veronika Tocha -- Meeting at the workshop of Thutmose: two casts from Tell el-Amarna / Friederike Seyfried and Nadine Thieme -- Terra incognita: lifecasts of antiquity / Manuel Flecker

THE CASE AGAINST CASTS - Casting as art / a conversation with Asta Gröting 'Berlin supplies the world with Gods': the history of the Gipsformerei, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1819-2019 / Hans Georg Hillen von Gaertringen -- Conservation and restoration at the Gipsformerei: mission, challenges and prospects / Aurelia Badde, Lothar Bogdanski, Jan Bürgel, Fabian Burg, Johanna Gassmann, Susanne Grimm, Cornelia Hoppe, Peter John-Schoubye, Timo Klöppel, Stefan Kramer, Daniel Meyer, Sandro di Michele, Marc Miniers, Rainer Palau, Thomas Schelper, Andreas Schipka, Robin Schulz and Hardy Zaubitzer -- Glossary: Technology and Craftsmanship at the Gipsformerei / Fabian Burg, Thomas Schelper and Timo Klöppel -- Transformation as a concept: notes on the exhibition architecture / Hanne König and Nicolas Rauch

For the last two centuries the Gipsformerei - or Reproduction Workshop - in Berlin has produced outstanding plaster cast replicas of some of the most famous works in the history of sculpture. Still in operation today, it is one of the oldest and most expansive institutions of its kind. Its archives hold several thousand original master models and molds-of artworks and artefacts up to 25,000 years old. To celebrate the Gipsformerei's anniversary, this book explores the cultural history of the casting technique that has been carefully perfected by the workshop. As one of the world's oldest artistic techniques, plaster casting has been used by artists from antiquity to the present to depict life. This book focuses on casts of animals and plants, European death masks and life casts, as well as sculptural masterpieces and contemporary works of art. Featuring more than two hundred extraordinary sculptures and objects from the collection of the Gipsformerei, complemented by pieces from international collections, this publication is one of the first to showcase the casts as works of art in their own right.

Translated from the German.