Titian's Touch: Art, Magic and Philosophy

Titian's art was a synesthetic experience, combining sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch to create a vivid world of appearances and ideas. He could conjure up appearances out of thin air, explore the nature of things, and create the world anew with paint, canvas, blood, sweat, and tears.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 15 July 2019
Publisher: Reaktion Books

Titian, renowned for his long and prolific career, was whispered to have painted directly on canvas with his bare hands. He would glide his fingers across vibrant ridges of oil paint, loosening the colors, blending, blurring, and then reuniting them. With mere touches of a thumb or a flick of a nail, Titian's touch breathed life into the world. The clinking of glasses, the clanging of swords, and the wail of a woman's grief filled the air. The sensation of hair brushing against naked flesh, the sudden surge of unanticipated desire, and the dry taste of fear in a dimly lit place enveloped the senses. Maria H. Loh, in this exquisitely illustrated book, argues that Titian's art was and remains a synesthetic experience. To see is to hear, to smell, to taste, and to touch. Yet, while Titian was deeply connected to the world around him, he held the universe in his hands. Like a magician, he could conjure appearances out of thin air. Like a philosopher, his exploration into the essence of things channeled and challenged the controversial ideas of his time. Yet, as a painter, he created the world anew. Dogs, babies, rubies, and pearls. Falcons, flowers, gloves, and stone. Shepherds, mothers, gods, and men. Paint, canvas, blood, sweat, and tears. Loh guides us through the lush, vibrant world of Titian's touch through a series of close visual investigations.

Weight: 680g
Dimension: 218 x 146 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781789140828